76R9039 DWS-D                           
         By Flores                                              H.B. No. 381
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 381:
         By Siebert                                         C.S.H.B. No. 381
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to rights of survivorship transfer of a motor vehicle or
 1-3     manufactured home.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 501.031, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 501.031.  RIGHTS OF SURVIVORSHIP AGREEMENT.  (a)  The
 1-8     department shall include on each certificate of title a rights of
 1-9     survivorship agreement form.  The form must:
1-10                 (1)  provide that if the agreement is signed by two or
1-11     more persons, the motor vehicle is held [a husband and wife]
1-12     jointly by those persons  with the interest of a person [either
1-13     spouse] who dies to survive  to the surviving person or persons
1-14     [spouse]; and
1-15                 (2)  provide blanks for the signatures of the persons
1-16     [husband and wife].
1-17           (b)  If the vehicle is registered in the name of one or more
1-18     of the persons who signed the agreement [the husband, the wife, or
1-19     both,] and if the rights of survivorship agreement is signed by all
1-20     the persons [both the husband and the wife]:
1-21                 (1)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred only
1-22     by all the persons [both spouses] acting jointly, if all the
1-23     persons [both spouses] are  alive; and
1-24                 (2)  on the death of one of the persons [spouses]:
 2-1                       (A)  ownership of the vehicle may be transferred
 2-2     by the surviving person or persons [spouse] by transferring the
 2-3     certificate of title, in the  manner otherwise required by law for
 2-4     transfer of ownership of the vehicle, with a copy of the death
 2-5     certificate  of the deceased person [spouse] attached to the
 2-6     certificate of  title; and
 2-7                       (B)  the department shall issue a new certificate
 2-8     of title in the name of the surviving person or persons [spouse] or
 2-9     the surviving person's or persons' [spouse's] transferee on
2-10     presentation of a copy of the certificate of title with the death
2-11     certificate of the deceased person [spouse] attached without
2-12     requiring additional evidence of the person's  [spouse's] death.
2-13           (c)  A rights of survivorship agreement under this section
2-14     may be revoked only by surrender of the certificate of title to the
2-15     department and joint application by the persons who signed the
2-16     agreement [husband and wife]  for a new title in the name of the
2-17     person or persons designated in the application.
2-18           SECTION 2.  Section 19(a)(2), Texas Manufactured Housing
2-19     Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
2-20     amended to read as follows:
2-21                 (2)  "Document of title" means a written instrument
2-22     issued solely by and  under the authority of the director that sets
2-23     forth:
2-24                       (A)  the name and address of the purchaser and
2-25     seller at the first retail sale, or the transferee and transferor
2-26     at any subsequent sale or transfer;
2-27                       (B)  the manufacturer's name and address and, if
 3-1     any, the model designation;
 3-2                       (C)  in accordance with applicable rules of the
 3-3     director, the outside dimensions of the manufactured home when
 3-4     installed for occupancy exclusive of the tongue or other towing
 3-5     device as measured to the nearest one-half of one foot at the base
 3-6     of the home, and the approximate square footage of the home when
 3-7     installed for occupancy;
 3-8                       (D)  the identification number or numbers for
 3-9     each section or module of the manufactured home;
3-10                       (E)  the county of this state in which the
3-11     manufactured home is installed for occupancy;
3-12                       (F)  the dates of any liens, and the names and
3-13     addresses of the lienholders, in chronological order of
3-14     recordation, and if no liens are registered or recorded on the
3-15     manufactured home, a statement of that fact;
3-16                       (G)  the signature of the owner signed with pen
3-17     and ink on receipt of the certificate;
3-18                       (H)  that if two or more persons [a husband and
3-19     wife] file, with the application for document of title, an
3-20     agreement signed by all the persons [both] providing that the
3-21     manufactured home is to be held jointly with rights of
3-22     survivorship, the director shall issue the document of title in all
3-23     the [both] names; and
3-24                       (I)  any other data the director requires.
3-25           SECTION 3.  Section 19(h), Texas Manufactured Housing
3-26     Standards Act (Article 5221f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-27     amended to read as follows:
 4-1           (h)  When the ownership of a manufactured home in this state
 4-2     is transferred by operation of law, as in an inheritance, a devise,
 4-3     or a bequest, bankruptcy, receivership, judicial sale, or any
 4-4     involuntary divestiture of ownership, the department shall issue a
 4-5     new document of title when the department is provided with a
 4-6     certified copy of the order or bill of sale from an officer making
 4-7     a judicial sale, or the order appointing a temporary administrator,
 4-8     the probate proceedings, the letters testamentary, the letters of
 4-9     administration, or an affidavit by all of the heirs at law showing
4-10     that no administration is necessary and showing in whose name the
4-11     certificate should be issued.  If a security interest or other lien
4-12     is foreclosed in accordance with law by nonjudicial means and the
4-13     secured party or other mortgagee files an affidavit with the
4-14     department showing the nonjudicial foreclosure in accordance with
4-15     law, the department may issue a new document of title in the name
4-16     of the purchaser at the foreclosure sale.  If the foreclosure is of
4-17     a constitutional or statutory lien and the person entitled to the
4-18     lien files an affidavit showing the creation of the lien and of the
4-19     divestiture of title because of the lien in accordance with law,
4-20     the department may issue a new document of title in the name of the
4-21     purchaser.  If an agreement providing for right of survivorship is
4-22     signed by two or more persons [the husband and wife] and if on the
4-23     death of one of the persons [either spouse] the department is
4-24     provided with a copy of the death certificate of the deceased
4-25     person [spouse], the department shall issue a new document of title
4-26     to the surviving person or persons [spouse].
4-27           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 5-1           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 5-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 5-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 5-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 5-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.