1-1     By:  Wentworth                                         S.B. No. 969

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 5, 1997; March 10, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; April 3, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 3, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the resale of property sold to a taxing unit pursuant

 1-9     to foreclosure of an ad valorem tax lien.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 34.05, Tax Code, is

1-12     amended to read as follows:

1-13           (d)  Except as provided by this subsection, all public sales

1-14     requested as provided by Subsection (c) of this section shall be

1-15     conducted in the manner prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure

1-16     for the sale of property under execution.  The notice of the sale

1-17     must contain a description of the property to be sold, which must

1-18     be a legal description in the case of real property, the number and

1-19     style of the suit under which the property was sold at the tax

1-20     foreclosure sale, and the date of the tax foreclosure sale.  If the

1-21     commissioners court of a county by order specifies the date or time

1-22     at which or location in the county where a public sale requested

1-23     under Subsection (c) of this section shall be conducted, the sale

1-24     shall be conducted on the date and at the time and location

1-25     specified in the order.  The officer conducting the sale shall

1-26     reject any bid for the property if it is his judgment that the

1-27     amount bid is insufficient.  If all bids are insufficient, the

1-28     property shall be readvertised and offered for sale again.  The

1-29     acceptance of a bid by the officer conducting the sale is

1-30     conclusive and binding on the question of its sufficiency.  An

1-31     action to set aside the sale on the grounds that the bid is

1-32     insufficient may not be sustained in court, except that a taxing

1-33     unit that participates in distribution of proceeds of the sale may

1-34     file an action within one year after the date of the sale to set

1-35     aside the sale on the grounds of fraud or collusion between the

1-36     officer making the sale and the purchaser.

1-37           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-38     applies only to a public sale requested by a taxing unit on or

1-39     after that date.

1-40           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-41     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-42     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-43     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-44     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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