1-1     By:  Wentworth                                        S.B. No. 1559

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 20, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;

 1-4     April 3, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,

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

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the sale of real property placed in the name of the

 1-9     state as a result of a tax foreclosure sale.

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

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 32.112, Natural Resources Code, is

1-12     amended to read as follows:

1-13           Sec. 32.112.  SALE OF TAX FORECLOSURE PROPERTY.  (a)  All

1-14     real property or any interest in real property placed in the name

1-15     of the state as a result of [a tax] foreclosure of a tax lien,

1-16     whether the property was sold, bid off, or otherwise transferred to

1-17     the state, [sale] may be sold or leased by the board in the same

1-18     manner as provided for the sale or lease of land under Chapter 51,

1-19     free of any lien of a taxing unit that was a party to the judgment

1-20     in the delinquent tax suit involving the property for taxes imposed

1-21     on the property, penalties, or interest that are due the taxing

1-22     unit [of this code].

1-23           (b)  A sale of property by the board under this section vests

1-24     in the purchaser of the property good and perfect title to the

1-25     interest in the property owned by the person liable for the

1-26     delinquent taxes.  The purchaser has the right to the use and

1-27     possession of the property, subject only to the person's right of

1-28     redemption, a recorded restrictive covenant running with the land,

1-29     and a valid easement of record as of the date the property was

1-30     placed in the name of the state, if the covenant or easement was

1-31     recorded before January 1 of the year in which the tax lien

1-32     attached to the property.

1-33           (c)  The board may retain from the proceeds of a sale or

1-34     lease conducted under this section the cost of conducting the

1-35     transaction, including advertising, appraisal, and administrative

1-36     costs.  The balance of the proceeds shall be deposited in the State

1-37     Treasury to the credit of the Texas capital trust fund.  The board

1-38     is not required to pay any portion of the proceeds to a taxing unit

1-39     that was a party to the judgment in the delinquent tax suit

1-40     involving the property in satisfaction of any taxes imposed on the

1-41     property, penalties, or interest that are due the taxing unit.

1-42           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-43     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-44     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-45     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-46     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-47     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-48     passage, and it is so enacted.

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