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.