By Wentworth                                     S.B. No. 969

      75R3809 JD-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the resale of property sold to a taxing unit pursuant

 1-3     to foreclosure of an ad valorem tax lien.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 34.05(d), Tax Code, is amended to read as

 1-6     follows:

 1-7           (d)  Except as provided by this subsection, all public sales

 1-8     requested as provided by Subsection (c) of this section shall be

 1-9     conducted in the manner prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure

1-10     for the sale of property under execution.  The notice of the sale

1-11     must contain a description of the property to be sold, which must

1-12     be a legal description in the case of real property, the number and

1-13     style of the suit under which the property was sold at the tax

1-14     foreclosure sale, and the date of the tax foreclosure sale.  If the

1-15     commissioners court of a county by order specifies the date or time

1-16     at which or location in the county where a public sale requested

1-17     under Subsection (c) shall be conducted, the sale shall be

1-18     conducted on the date and at the time and location specified in the

1-19     order.  The officer conducting the sale shall reject any bid for

1-20     the property if it is his judgment that the amount bid is

1-21     insufficient.  If all bids are insufficient, the property shall be

1-22     readvertised and offered for sale again.  The acceptance of a bid

1-23     by the officer conducting the sale is conclusive and binding on the

1-24     question of its sufficiency.  An action to set aside the sale on

 2-1     the grounds that the bid is insufficient may not be sustained in

 2-2     court, except that a taxing unit that participates in distribution

 2-3     of proceeds of the sale may file an action within one year after

 2-4     the date of the sale to set aside the sale on the grounds of fraud

 2-5     or collusion between the officer making the sale and the purchaser.

 2-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-7     applies only to a public sale requested by a taxing unit on or

 2-8     after that date.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.