1-1 By: Truan S.B. No. 1605
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 21, 1995; March 22, 1995, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 April 11, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 13, Nays 0; April 11, 1995,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1605 By: Gallegos
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the request of certain elderly or disabled tenants for
1-11 a landlord to deactivate or not install a keyless bolting device.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Subsections (a), (e), (f), and (g), Section
1-14 92.153, Property Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-15 (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b), (e), (f), <and>
1-16 (g), and (h) and without necessity of request by the tenant, a
1-17 dwelling must be equipped with:
1-18 (1) a window latch on each exterior window of the
1-19 dwelling;
1-20 (2) a doorknob lock or keyed dead bolt on each
1-21 exterior door;
1-22 (3) a sliding door pin lock, a sliding door handle
1-23 latch, or a sliding door security bar on each exterior sliding
1-24 glass door of the dwelling, if construction of the dwelling was
1-25 completed before September 1, 1993, and the calendar date is before
1-26 January 1, 1995;
1-27 (4) a sliding door pin lock and a sliding door handle
1-28 latch or a sliding door security bar on each exterior sliding glass
1-29 door of the dwelling, if construction of the dwelling was completed
1-30 on or after September 1, 1993, or the calendar date is January 1,
1-31 1995, or later;
1-32 (5) a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each
1-33 exterior door of the dwelling, if initial construction of the
1-34 dwelling was completed on or after September 1, 1993; and
1-35 (6) a keyless bolting device and a door viewer on each
1-36 exterior door of the dwelling, if the calendar date is January 1,
1-37 1995, or later.
1-38 (e) A keyless bolting device is not required to be installed
1-39 at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if:
1-40 (1) the dwelling is part of a multiunit complex in
1-41 which the majority of dwelling units are leased to tenants who are
1-42 over 55 years of age or who have a physical or mental disability;
1-43 (2) a <the> tenant or occupant in the dwelling is over
1-44 55 years of age or has a physical or mental disability; and
1-45 (3) the landlord is expressly required or permitted to
1-46 periodically check on the well-being or health of the tenant as a
1-47 part of a written lease or other written agreement.
1-48 (f) A keyless bolting device is not required to be installed
1-49 at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if:
1-50 (1) a tenant or occupant in the dwelling is over 55
1-51 years of age or has a physical or mental disability; and
1-52 (2) the tenant requests in writing that the landlord
1-53 deactivate or not install the keyless bolting device and certifies
1-54 in the request that the tenant or occupant meets the requirements
1-55 of Subdivision (1) of this subsection. The request must be in a
1-56 separate document and may not be included as a part of a lease or
1-57 rental agreement. The tenant's request and the landlord's
1-58 deactivation or noninstallation must be bona fide and not for the
1-59 purpose of evading a duty of the landlord under this subchapter.
1-60 (g) A keyed dead bolt or a doorknob lock is not required to
1-61 be installed at the landlord's expense on an exterior door if at
1-62 the time the tenant agrees to lease the dwelling:
1-63 (1) at least one exterior door usable for normal entry
1-64 into the dwelling has both a keyed dead bolt and a keyless bolting
1-65 device, installed in accordance with the height, strike plate, and
1-66 throw requirements of Section 92.154; and
1-67 (2) all other exterior doors have a keyless bolting
1-68 device installed in accordance with the height, strike plate, and
2-1 throw requirements of Section 92.154.
2-2 (h) <(g)> A security device required by this section must be
2-3 operable throughout the time a tenant is in possession of a
2-4 dwelling. However, a landlord may deactivate or remove the locking
2-5 mechanism of a doorknob lock or remove any device not qualifying as
2-6 a keyless bolting device if a keyed dead bolt has been installed on
2-7 the same door.
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.
2-15 * * * * *