By Dukes                                               H.B. No. 511
         76R1178 CLG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appraisement of real property securing a
 1-3     residential mortgage loan; providing a criminal penalty.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 35, Business & Commerce
 1-6     Code, is amended by adding Section 35.55 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 35.55.  OFFENSE:  IMPROPERLY INDUCED APPRAISAL FOR
 1-8     RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.   (a)  In this section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Lender" means a person who lends money for or
1-10     invests money in residential mortgage loans.
1-11                 (2)  "Residential mortgage loan" means a loan to or for
1-12     the benefit of one or more individuals made primarily for personal,
1-13     family, or household use and primarily secured by a mortgage on
1-14     residential real property.
1-15           (b)  A lender commits an offense if before the closing of a
1-16     residential mortgage loan the lender pays or offers to pay a
1-17     person, including a real estate appraiser licensed or certified
1-18     under the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Act (Article
1-19     6573a.2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), a fee or other
1-20     consideration for appraisal services  and the payment:
1-21                 (1)  is contingent on a minimum, maximum, or pre-agreed
1-22     estimate of value of property securing the loan; and
1-23                 (2)  interferes with the person's ability or obligation
1-24     to provide an independent and impartial opinion of the property's
 2-1     value.
 2-2           (c)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
 2-3           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.