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, Subchapter A, Chapter 33, Property
    1-5  Tax Code, is amended to read as 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 <three years>
   1-11  applicable limitations period after the deed executed to the
   1-12  purchaser at the tax sale is filed.  For purposes of this Section
   1-13  33.54 the applicable limitations period shall be (i) two years if
   1-14  the property sold at the tax sale was the residence homestead of
   1-15  the owner on was land designated for agricultural use when the suit
   1-16  to collect the tax was filed, or (ii) one year for any other
   1-17  property.
   1-18        (b)  If a person other than the purchaser at the tax sale or
   1-19  his successor in interest pays taxes on the property during the
   1-20  <three years following the date the deed is filed> applicable
   1-21  limitations period and that person was not served citation in the
   1-22  suit to foreclose the tax lien, the <three-year> applicable
   1-23  limitations period does not apply to that person.
    2-1        (c)  When actions are barred by this section, the purchaser
    2-2  at the tax sale or his successor in interest shall be held to have
    2-3  full title to the property, precluding all other claims.
    2-4        (d)  Under this section and any other section of the Tax
    2-5  Code, a person challenging the validity of a tax sale shall not
    2-6  commence an action unless such person deposits into the registry of
    2-7  the court an amount equal to all taxes, penalties, interest, and
    2-8  costs on the property.
    2-9        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-14  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-15  passage, and it is so enacted.