By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1767

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the statute of limitations applicable to real property

 1-2     sold for taxes.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 33.54, Tax Code, is amended to read as

 1-5     follows:

 1-6           Sec. 33.54.  LIMITATION ON ACTIONS RELATING TO PROPERTY SOLD

 1-7     FOR TAXES.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this

 1-8     section, a cause of action relating to the title to property may

 1-9     not be maintained against the purchaser of the property at at tax

1-10     sale unless the action commences within the applicable limitations

1-11     period [three years] after the deed executed to the purchaser at the

1-12     tax sale is filed of record.  For purposes of this section, the

1-13     applicable limitations period shall be two years if the property

1-14     sold at the tax sale was the residence homestead of the owner or

1-15     was land designated for agricultural use when the suit to collect

1-16     the tax was filed or one year for any other property.

1-17           (b)  If a person other than the purchaser at the tax sale or

1-18     his successor in interest pays taxes on the property during the

1-19     applicable limitations period [three years following the date the

1-20     deed is filed] and that person was not served citation in the suit

1-21     to foreclose the tax lien, the applicable [three year] limitations

 2-1     period does not apply to that person.

 2-2           (c)  When actions are barred by this section, the purchaser

 2-3     at the tax sale or his successor in interest shall be held to have

 2-4     full title to the property, precluding all other claims.

 2-5           (d)  Under this section and any other section of the Tax

 2-6     Code, a person challenging the validity of a tax sale shall not

 2-7     commence an action unless such person deposits into the registry of

 2-8     the county an amount equal to all taxes, penalties, interest, and

 2-9     costs on the property.

2-10           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.