1-1     By:  Harris                                           S.B. No. 1614

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

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

 1-4     April 9, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 9, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to certain unauthorized practice of law.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 83.001, Government Code,

1-11     is amended to read as follows:

1-12           (a)  A person, partnership, corporation, or other entity,

1-13     other than a person described in Subsection (b), may not charge or

1-14     receive, either directly or indirectly, any compensation for all or

1-15     any part of the preparation of a legal instrument affecting title

1-16     to real property, including a deed, deed of trust, note, mortgage,

1-17     and transfer or release of lien.  As used in this section,

1-18     "compensation" includes but is not limited to interest and any

1-19     other cost, fee, or charge made in connection with a loan secured

1-20     by a lien on real property.

1-21           SECTION 2.  Section 83.002, Government Code, is amended to

1-22     read as follows:

1-23           Sec. 83.002.  EXPENSES.  This chapter does not prevent an

1-24     attorney from paying secretarial, paralegal, or other ordinary and

1-25     reasonable expenses necessarily and actually incurred by the

1-26     attorney for the preparation of legal instruments.  However, no

1-27     such payments shall be made by an attorney directly or indirectly

1-28     to a party to the transaction for which the legal documents are

1-29     prepared.

1-30           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-31           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-32     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-33     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-34     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-35     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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