By: Brown S.B. No. 1426
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to security devices in certain rental dwellings; and
1-2 declaring an emergency.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Amend Section 92.151(6), Property Code to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 (6) "Keyless bolting device" means a door lock not in
1-7 the doorknob that locks:
1-8 (A) with a bolt into a strike plate screwed into
1-9 the portion of the doorjamb surface that faces the edge of the door
1-10 when the door is closed or into a metal doorjamb that serves as the
1-11 strike plate, operable only by knob or lever from the door's
1-12 interior and not in any manner from the door's exterior, and that
1-13 is commonly known as a keyless dead bolt;
1-14 (B) by a drop bolt system operated by placing a
1-15 central metal plate over a metal doorjamb restraint that protrudes
1-16 from the doorjamb and that is affixed to the doorjamb frame by
1-17 means of three case-hardened screws at least three inches in
1-18 length. One-half of the central plate must overlap the interior
1-19 surface of the door and the other half of the central plate must
1-20 overlap the doorjamb when the plates is placed over the doorjamb
1-21 restraint. The drop bolt system must prevent the door from being
1-22 opened unless the central plate is lifted off of the doorjamb
1-23 restraint by a person who is on the interior side of the door.
2-1 The term "keyless bolting device" does not include a chain
2-2 latch, flip latch, surface-mounted slide bolt, mortise door bolt,
2-3 surface-mounted barrel bolt, surface-mounted swing bar door guard,
2-4 spring-loaded nightlatch, foot bolt, or other lock or latch; or
2-5 (C) by a metal bar or metal tube that is placed
2-6 across the entire interior side of the door and secured in place at
2-7 each end of the bar or tube by heavy-duty metal screw hooks. The
2-8 screw hooks must be at least three inches in length and must be
2-9 screwed into the door frame stud or wall stud on each side of the
2-10 door. The bar or tube must be capable of being secured to both of
2-11 the screw hooks and must be permanently attached in some way to the
2-12 door frame stud or wall stud. When secured to the screw hooks, the
2-13 bar or tube must prevent the door from being opened unless the bar
2-14 or tube is removed by a person who is on the interior side of the
2-15 door.
2-16 (D) By a steel bar that is placed in a steel
2-17 sleeve in the floor, on the inside of an in swinging door, two
2-18 inches in from the center of the door with a kick plate installed
2-19 with screws and a storage bracket on the inside of the door. When
2-20 the steel bar is inserted into its hole in the floor it must be
2-21 capable of preventing the door from moving inward. The steel bar
2-22 must be additionally capable of being adjusted from the inside so
2-23 that the door can be opened from the inside two inches to serve as
2-24 a viewing space while still preventing the door from being opened
2-25 inwardly further than two inches.
3-1 SECTION 2. Amend Section 92.154, Property Code to read as
3-2 follows:
3-3 (a) A keyed dead bolt or a keyless bolting device required
3-4 by this subchapter must be installed at a height:
3-5 (1) not lower than 36 inches from the floor; and
3-6 (2) not higher than:
3-7 (A) 54 inches from the floor, if installed
3-8 before September 1, 1993; or
3-9 (B) 48 inches from the floor, if installed on or
3-10 after September 1, 1993.
3-11 (C) or in conformance with 92.151(6)(D).
3-12 (b) A keyed dead bolt or a keyless bolting device described
3-13 in Section 92.151(6)(A) or (B) in a dwelling must:
3-14 (1) have a strike plate screwed into the portion of
3-15 the doorjamb surface that faces the edge of the door when the door
3-16 is closed; or
3-17 (2) be installed i a door with a metal doorjamb that
3-18 serves as the strike plate.
3-19 (c) A keyed dead bolt or keyless dead bolt, as described by
3-20 Section 92.151(6)(A), installed in a dwelling on or after September
3-21 1, 1993, must have a dead bolt with a throw of not less than one
3-22 inch.
3-23 (d) The requirements of this section do not apply to a keyed
3-24 dead bolt or a keyless bolting device in one door of a pair of
3-25 French doors that is installed in accordance with the requirements
4-1 of Section 92.153(b)(1) or (2).
4-2 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-3 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. The importance of this
4-4 legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both
4-5 houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that
4-6 the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.