By Thompson H.B. No. 1514
75R5795 ESH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to county support of paupers.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 81.028, Local Government Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 81.028. CERTAIN POWERS SPECIFIED. (a) Each
1-7 commissioners court may:
1-8 (1) establish public ferries whenever the public
1-9 interest may require;
1-10 (2) lay out and establish, change, discontinue, close,
1-11 abandon, or vacate public roads and highways;
1-12 (3) build bridges and keep them in repair;
1-13 (4) appoint road overseers and apportion hands;
1-14 (5) exercise general control over all roads, highways,
1-15 ferries, and bridges in their counties;
1-16 (6) provide for the support of paupers, residents of
1-17 their county, who are unable to support themselves[. A county is
1-18 obligated to provide health care assistance to eligible residents
1-19 only to the extent prescribed by Chapter 61, Health and Safety
1-20 Code, but that chapter does not affect the authority of a
1-21 commissioners court to provide eligibility standards or other
1-22 requirements relating to other assistance programs or services that
1-23 are not covered by Chapter 61]; and
1-24 (7) establish a least cost review program for public
2-1 improvements to be constructed by use of personnel, equipment, or
2-2 facilities of the county that may exceed a cost of $100,000 or a
2-3 lesser amount in the discretion of the commissioners court.
2-4 (b) In providing support for paupers as authorized by
2-5 Subsection (a)(6):
2-6 (1) a county is obligated to provide health care
2-7 assistance to eligible residents only to the extent prescribed by
2-8 Chapter 61, Health and Safety Code;
2-9 (2) Chapter 61, Health and Safety Code, does not
2-10 affect the authority of a commissioners court to provide
2-11 eligibility standards or other requirements relating to other
2-12 assistance programs or services that are not covered by that
2-13 chapter; and
2-14 (3) a county may establish a claim and lien against
2-15 the estate of a pauper who receives support under this section, but
2-16 may not enforce a claim or lien established under this section if
2-17 the pauper has a surviving spouse, surviving dependent, or
2-18 surviving child with a disability.
2-19 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-20 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-25 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
2-26 Amend House Bill 1514 as follows:
2-27 At page 2, line 18 after "disability." and before line 19
3-1 insert the following: To perfect the lien against real property of
3-2 the pauper or real property of the estate of the pauper, the county
3-3 must file a notice of claim and lien in the real property records
3-4 in the county in which the real property of the pauper is located.
3-5 The notice must state the amount owed to the county, the name of
3-6 the pauper, and the social security number of the pauper. The lien
3-7 arises and attaches to the title to the real property upon
3-8 recordation of the notice of the lien. The lien is not valid or
3-9 enforceable against a grantee, purchaser, or lienholder from the
3-10 pauper or from those claiming under the pauper or pauper's estate
3-11 who acquires an interest in the real property before the notice of
3-12 lien is recorded.
3-13 Berlanga