Amend CSHJR 31 by striking everything below the resolving
clause and substituting the following:
"SECTION 1. Section 50, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 50. (a) The homestead of a family, or of a single
adult person, shall be, and is hereby protected from forced sale,
for the payment of all debts except for:
(1) the purchase money thereof, or a part of such
purchase money; <,>
(2) the taxes due thereon; <,>
(3) an owelty of partition imposed against the entirety
of the property by a court order or by a written agreement of the
parties to the partition, including a debt of one spouse in favor
of the other spouse resulting from a division or an award of a
family homestead in a divorce proceeding; <,>
(4) the refinance of a lien against a homestead,
including a federal tax lien resulting from the tax debt of both
spouses, if the homestead is a family homestead, or from the tax
debt of the owner;
(5) <, or for> work and material used in constructing
improvements thereon, if <and in this last case only when> the work
and material are contracted for in writing, with the consent of
both spouses, in the case of a family homestead, given in the same
manner as is required in making a sale and conveyance of the
homestead; or
(6) an extension of credit that:
(A) is secured by a voluntary lien on the
homestead created under a written agreement with the consent of
each owner and each owner's spouse;
(B) is of a principal amount that when added to
the aggregate total of the outstanding principal balances of all
other indebtedness secured by valid encumbrances of record against
the homestead does not exceed 75 percent of the fair market value
of the homestead on the date the extension of credit is made;
(C) is without recourse for personal liability
against each owner and the spouse of each owner;
(D) is secured by a lien that may be foreclosed
upon only by a court order;
(E) does not require the owner or the owner's
spouse to pay, in addition to any interest, fees to any person that
are necessary to originate, evaluate, maintain, record, insure, or
service the extension of credit that exceed, in the aggregate,
three percent of the original principal amount of the extension of
credit;
(F) is not a form of open-end account that may
be debited from time to time or under which credit may be extended
from time to time, unless the extension of credit is a reverse
mortgage;
(G) is payable in advance without penalty or
other charge;
(H) is not secured by any additional real or
personal property other than the homestead;
(I) is not secured by homestead property
designated for agricultural use as provided by statutes governing
property tax;
(J) may not be accelerated because of a decrease
in the market value of the homestead or because of the owner's
default under other indebtedness not secured by a prior valid
encumbrance against the homestead;
(K) is the only debt secured by the homestead at
the time the extension of credit is made unless the other debt was
made for a purpose described by Subsections (a)(1)-(a)(5) of this
section;
(L) is, unless the extension of credit is a
reverse mortgage, scheduled to be repaid in substantially equal
successive monthly installments beginning no later than two months
from the date the extension of credit is made, each of which equals
or exceeds the amount of accrued interest as of the date of the
scheduled installment;
(M) is closed not before:
(i) the 12th day after the later of the
date that the owner of the homestead submits an application to the
lender for the extension of credit or the date that the lender
provides the owner a copy of the notice prescribed by Subsection
(g) of this section; and
(ii) the first anniversary of the closing
date of any other extension of credit described by Subsection
(a)(6) of this section secured by the same homestead property;
(N) is closed only at the office of the lender,
an attorney at law, or a title company;
(O) is made by:
(i) a bank, savings and loan association,
savings bank, or credit union doing business under the laws of this
state or the United States;
(ii) a federally chartered lending
instrumentality or a person approved as a mortgagee by the United
States government to make federally insured loans; or
(iii) a person licensed to make regulated
loans, as provided by statute of this state; and
(P) is made on the condition that:
(i) the owner of the homestead is not
required to apply the proceeds of the extension of credit to repay
another debt that is not secured by the homestead or another debt
to the lender;
(ii) the owner of the homestead not assign
wages as security for the extension of credit;
(iii) the owner of the homestead not sign
any instrument in which blanks are left to be filled in;
(iv) the owner of the homestead not sign a
confession or judgment or power of attorney to the lender or to a
third person to confess judgment or to appear for the owner in a
judicial proceeding;
(v) the lender, at the time the extension
of credit is made, provide the owner of the homestead a copy of all
documents signed by the owner related to the extension of credit;
(vi) the security instruments securing the
extension of credit contain a disclosure that the extension of
credit is the type of credit defined by Section 50(a)(6), Article
XVI, Texas Constitution;
(vii) within a reasonable time after
termination and full payment of the extension of credit, the lender
cancel and return the promissory note to the owner of the homestead
and give the owner, in recordable form, a release of the lien
securing the extension of credit or a copy of an endorsement and
assignment of the lien to a lender that is refinancing the
extension of credit;
(viii) the owner of the homestead and any
spouse of the owner may, within three days after the extension of
credit is made, rescind the extension of credit without penalty or
charge;
(ix) the owner of the homestead and the
lender sign a written acknowledgment as to the fair market value of
the homestead property on the date the extension of credit is made;
and
(x) the lender or any holder of the note
for the extension of credit shall forfeit all principal and
interest of the extension of credit if the lender fails to comply
with the lender's obligations under the extension of credit within
a reasonable time after the lender is notified of its failure to
comply.
(b) An <nor may the> owner or claimant of the property
claimed as homestead may not <, if married,> sell or abandon the
homestead without the consent of each owner and the <other> spouse
of each owner, given in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
(c) No mortgage, trust deed, or other lien on the homestead
shall ever be valid unless it secures a debt described by this
section, <except for a debt described by this section,> whether
such mortgage, <or> trust deed, or other lien, shall have been
created by the owner alone, or together with his or her spouse, in
case the owner is married. All pretended sales of the homestead
involving any condition of defeasance shall be void.
(d) A purchaser or lender for value without actual knowledge
may conclusively rely on an affidavit that designates other
property as the homestead of the affiant and that states that the
property to be conveyed or encumbered is not the homestead of the
affiant.
(e) A refinance of debt secured by a homestead and described
by any subsection under Subsections (a)(1)-(a)(5) that includes the
advance of additional funds may not be secured by a valid lien
against the homestead unless:
(1) the refinance of the debt is an extension of
credit described by Subsection (a)(6) of this section; or
(2) the advance of all the additional funds is for
reasonable costs necessary to refinance such debt or for a purpose
described by Subsection (a)(2), (a)(3), or (a)(5) of this section.
(f) A refinance of debt secured by the homestead, any