1-1 By: Ellis S.B. No. 1567
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1995; March 21, 1995, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; May 3, 1995,
1-4 reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0;
1-5 May 3, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the statute of limitations applicable to real property
1-9 sold for taxes.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 33.54, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-12 follows:
1-13 Sec. 33.54. Limitation on Actions Relating to Property Sold
1-14 for Taxes. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
1-15 section, a cause of action relating to the title to property may
1-16 not be maintained against the purchaser of the property at a tax
1-17 sale unless the action commences within the applicable limitations
1-18 period <three years> after the deed executed to the purchaser at
1-19 the tax sale is filed of record. For purposes of this section, the
1-20 applicable limitations period shall be two years if the property
1-21 sold at the tax sale was the residence homestead of the owner or
1-22 was land designated for agricultural use when the suit to collect
1-23 the tax was filed or one year for any other property.
1-24 (b) If a person other than the purchaser at the tax sale or
1-25 his successor in interest pays taxes on the property during the
1-26 applicable limitations period <three years following the date the
1-27 deed is filed> and that person was not served citation in the suit
1-28 to foreclose the tax lien, the applicable <three-year> limitations
1-29 period does not apply to that person.
1-30 (c) When actions are barred by this section, the purchaser
1-31 at the tax sale or his successor in interest shall be held to have
1-32 full title to the property, precluding all other claims.
1-33 (d) Under this section and any other section of the Tax
1-34 Code, a person challenging the validity of a tax sale shall not
1-35 commence an action unless such person deposits into the registry of
1-36 the court an amount equal to all taxes, penalties, interest, and
1-37 costs on the property.
1-38 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-39 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-40 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-41 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-42 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-43 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-44 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-45 * * * * *