1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the harvesting of and payment for timber; providing for
1-3 damages; creating an offense.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 151, Natural Resources Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Subchapters C and D to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER C. UNAUTHORIZED HARVESTING OF TIMBER
1-8 Sec. 151.101. DAMAGES FOR UNAUTHORIZED HARVESTING. (a) A
1-9 person who harvests standing timber with knowledge that the
1-10 harvesting is without the permission of the owner of the standing
1-11 timber and a person who causes another person to harvest standing
1-12 timber without the permission of the owner of the standing timber
1-13 are jointly and severally liable to the owner for damages in an
1-14 amount equal to three times the market price of the timber
1-15 harvested without permission.
1-16 (b) Payment of damages by a person under this section does
1-17 not preclude a prosecution of the person under Section 151.045.
1-18 (c) This section does not apply to the trimming or clearing
1-19 of trees in the vicinity of a utility line or right-of-way.
1-20 SUBCHAPTER D. PAYMENT FOR TIMBER PURCHASED
1-21 Sec. 151.151. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "timber
1-22 purchaser" means a person who purchases standing timber for
1-23 harvest.
1-24 Sec. 151.152. MONEY COLLECTED FOR TIMBER AS TRUST MONEY.
2-1 Money a timber purchaser collects for harvested timber is trust
2-2 money.
2-3 Sec. 151.153. TIMBER PURCHASER AS TRUSTEE. A timber
2-4 purchaser and each officer, director, partner, or agent of a timber
2-5 purchaser are trustees of trust money.
2-6 Sec. 151.154. BENEFICIARY OF TRUST. Each seller of standing
2-7 timber is a beneficiary of trust money to the extent of the
2-8 beneficiary's share of the purchase price for the timber.
2-9 Sec. 151.155. OFFENSE. (a) A trustee commits an offense if
2-10 the trustee, knowingly or with intent to defraud, directly or
2-11 indirectly retains, uses, disperses, or otherwise diverts more than
2-12 $500 of trust money without first fully paying all of the
2-13 beneficiaries the purchase price for the timber.
2-14 (b) A trustee acts with intent to defraud if the trustee
2-15 retains, uses, disperses, or diverts trust money with the intent to
2-16 deprive a beneficiary of trust money.
2-17 (c) A trustee is presumed to have acted with intent to
2-18 defraud if the trustee does not pay all of the beneficiaries the
2-19 purchase price for the timber not later than the 45th day after the
2-20 date the trustee collects money for the timber.
2-21 (d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
2-22 Sec. 151.156. DEFENSES TO PROSECUTION. It is an affirmative
2-23 defense to prosecution under this section that:
2-24 (1) the trustee paid the beneficiaries all trust money
2-25 to which the beneficiaries were entitled not later than the 15th
2-26 day after the date written notice was given to the trustee at the
2-27 trustee's most recent address known that a criminal complaint has
3-1 been filed against the trustee or that a criminal investigation of
3-2 the trustee is pending; or
3-3 (2) two or more persons claim to be beneficiaries of
3-4 the same trust money, and the trustee has deposited the amount of
3-5 the disputed trust money into the registry of the district court of
3-6 the county in which the standing timber was located by action in
3-7 interpleader or other appropriate legal proceeding for the benefit
3-8 of persons the district court determines to be entitled to the
3-9 trust money.
3-10 Sec. 151.157. ELECTION OF OFFENSES. If conduct constituting
3-11 an offense under Section 151.155 is an offense under another law of
3-12 this state, the state may elect the offense for which it prosecutes
3-13 the trustee.
3-14 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-15 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1128 was passed by the House on May
2, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1128 was passed by the Senate on May
19, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor