By Shapiro S.B. No. 1833 75R9457 PAM-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to prohibiting a landlord from discriminating against a 1-3 person based on the person's participation in a housing assistance 1-4 program. 1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 301, Property Code, is 1-7 amended by adding Section 301.028 to read as follows: 1-8 Sec. 301.028. HOUSING ASSISTANCE. (a) Except as provided 1-9 by Subsection (b) or (c), a landlord may not refuse to lease a 1-10 dwelling and may not discriminate in the terms of the lease or the 1-11 provision of services or facilities under the lease because the 1-12 person receives funds under a housing assistance program, including 1-13 a housing voucher program or a housing certificate program, to pay, 1-14 in whole or in part, for rental payments. 1-15 (b) This section does not require a landlord to lease a 1-16 dwelling to any person: 1-17 (1) whose source of income is illegal; 1-18 (2) whose credit history, excluding an absence of a 1-19 credit history, does not meet the landlord's tenant selection 1-20 criteria; 1-21 (3) whose household includes a person who has a 1-22 criminal history that does not meet the landlord's tenant selection 1-23 criteria; or 1-24 (4) who is unable to demonstrate the ability to pay 2-1 any difference between the rental payment and the amount received 2-2 under the housing assistance program. 2-3 (c) A landlord may refuse to lease a dwelling to a person 2-4 because the person receives funds under a housing assistance 2-5 program to pay, in whole or in part, for rental payments if the 2-6 landlord has leased at least 15 percent of the landlord's dwellings 2-7 to persons who receive funds under a housing assistance program to 2-8 pay, in whole or in part, for rental payments. 2-9 (d) In addition to other standard application fees, a 2-10 landlord may collect a nonrefundable administrative fee of not more 2-11 than $10 from a person who satisfies the landlord's tenant 2-12 selection criteria and who receives funds under a housing 2-13 assistance program to pay, in whole or in part, for rental 2-14 payments. 2-15 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. 2-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.