By Kamel, Hightower, Merritt, McReynolds,             H.B. No. 1128

            Staples

         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1128:

         By Place                                          C.S.H.B. No. 1128

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 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                 SUBCHAPTER D.  PAYMENT FOR TIMBER PURCHASED

1-19           Sec. 151.151.  DEFINITION.  In this subchapter, "timber

1-20     purchaser" means a person who purchases standing timber for

1-21     harvest.

1-22           Sec. 151.152.  MONEY COLLECTED FOR TIMBER AS TRUST MONEY.

1-23     Money a timber purchaser collects for harvested timber is trust

1-24     money.

 2-1           Sec. 151.153.  TIMBER PURCHASER AS TRUSTEE.  A timber

 2-2     purchaser and each officer, director, partner, or agent of a timber

 2-3     purchaser are trustees of trust money.

 2-4           Sec. 151.154.  BENEFICIARY OF TRUST.  Each seller of standing

 2-5     timber is a beneficiary of trust money to the extent of the

 2-6     beneficiary's share of the purchase price for the timber.

 2-7           Sec. 151.155.  OFFENSE.  (a)  A trustee commits an offense if

 2-8     the trustee, knowingly or with intent to defraud, directly or

 2-9     indirectly retains, uses, disperses, or otherwise diverts more than

2-10     $500 of trust money without first fully paying all of the

2-11     beneficiaries the purchase price for the timber.

2-12           (b)  A trustee acts with intent to defraud if the trustee

2-13     retains, uses, disperses, or diverts trust money with the intent to

2-14     deprive a beneficiary of trust money.

2-15           (c)  A trustee is presumed to have acted with intent to

2-16     defraud if the trustee does not pay all of the beneficiaries the

2-17     purchase price for the timber not later than the 45th day after the

2-18     date the trustee collects money for the timber.

2-19           (d)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony.

2-20           Sec. 151.156.  DEFENSES TO PROSECUTION.  It is an affirmative

2-21     defense to prosecution under this section that:

2-22                 (1)  the trustee paid the beneficiaries all trust money

2-23     to which the beneficiaries were entitled not later than the 15th

2-24     day after the date written notice was given to the trustee at the

2-25     trustee's most recent address known that a criminal complaint has

2-26     been filed against the trustee or that a criminal investigation of

2-27     the trustee is pending; or

 3-1                 (2)  two or more persons claim to be beneficiaries of

 3-2     the same trust money, and the trustee has deposited the amount of

 3-3     the disputed trust money into the registry of the district court of

 3-4     the county in which the standing timber was located by action in

 3-5     interpleader or other appropriate legal proceeding for the benefit

 3-6     of persons the district court determines to be entitled to the

 3-7     trust money.

 3-8           Sec. 151.157.  ELECTION OF OFFENSES.  If conduct constituting

 3-9     an offense under Section 151.155 is an offense under another law of

3-10     this state, the state may elect the offense for which it prosecutes

3-11     the trustee.

3-12           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-13           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.