By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1567
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the statute of limitations applicable to real property
    1-2  sold for taxes.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 33.54, Tax Code, is amended to read as
    1-5  follows:
    1-6        Sec. 33.54.  Limitation on Actions Relating to Property Sold
    1-7  for Taxes.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
    1-8  section, a cause of action relating to the title to property may
    1-9  not be maintained against the purchaser of the property at a tax
   1-10  sale unless the action commences within the applicable limitations
   1-11  period <three years> after the deed executed to the purchaser at
   1-12  the tax sale is filed of record.  For purposes of this section, the
   1-13  applicable limitations period shall be two years if the property
   1-14  sold at the tax sale was the residence homestead of the owner or
   1-15  was land designated for agricultural use when the suit to collect
   1-16  the tax was filed or one year for any other property.
   1-17        (b)  If a person other than the purchaser at the tax sale or
   1-18  his successor in interest pays taxes on the property during the
   1-19  applicable limitations period <three years following the date the
   1-20  deed is filed> and that person was not served citation in the suit
   1-21  to foreclose the tax lien, the applicable <three-year> limitations
   1-22  period does not apply to that person.
   1-23        (c)  When actions are barred by this section, the purchaser
    2-1  at the tax sale or his successor in interest shall be held to have
    2-2  full title to the property, precluding all other claims.
    2-3        (d)  Under this section and any other section of the Tax
    2-4  Code, a person challenging the validity of a tax sale shall not
    2-5  commence an action unless such person deposits into the registry of
    2-6  the court an amount equal to all taxes, penalties, interest, and
    2-7  costs on the property.
    2-8        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-14  passage, and it is so enacted.