By Thompson                                     H.B. No. 1515

      75R4771 DRH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the collection of fees for the use of municipal land as

 1-3     a utility right-of-way.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 182.025, Tax Code, is amended by adding

 1-6     Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:

 1-7           (d)  A city or town may not collect a fee described by

 1-8     Subsection (a) after the second anniversary of the date the fee

 1-9     becomes due, except through judicial proceedings filed in

1-10     accordance with Subsection (e).

1-11           (e)  If the city or town seeks judicial relief to collect a

1-12     fee, the action must be filed not later than the second anniversary

1-13     of the date the fee becomes due.

1-14           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-15           (b)  Sections 182.025(d) and (e), Tax Code, as added by this

1-16     Act, apply only to an action filed on or after September 1, 1997.

1-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.