By Yarbrough H.B. No. 554
76R3441 PAM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to including disputes between property owners and property
1-3 owners' associations within the jurisdiction of justice and small
1-4 claims courts.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 27.031, Government Code, is amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 27.031. JURISDICTION. (a) In addition to the
1-9 jurisdiction and powers provided by the constitution and other law,
1-10 the justice court has original jurisdiction of:
1-11 (1) civil matters in which exclusive jurisdiction is
1-12 not in the district or county court and in which the amount in
1-13 controversy is not more than $5,000, exclusive of interest;
1-14 (2) cases of forcible entry and detainer; [and]
1-15 (3) foreclosure of mortgages and enforcement of liens
1-16 on personal property in cases in which the amount in controversy is
1-17 otherwise within the justice court's jurisdiction; and
1-18 (4) disputes between property owners and property
1-19 owners' associations, including the enforcement of a lien for
1-20 failure to pay property owners' association dues, in cases in which
1-21 the amount in controversy is otherwise within the justice court's
1-22 jurisdiction.
1-23 (b) A justice court does not have jurisdiction of:
1-24 (1) a suit in behalf of the state to recover a
2-1 penalty, forfeiture, or escheat;
2-2 (2) a suit for divorce;
2-3 (3) a suit to recover damages for slander or
2-4 defamation of character;
2-5 (4) a suit for trial of title to land; or
2-6 (5) except as provided by Subsection (a)(4), a suit
2-7 for the enforcement of a lien on land.
2-8 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect on September 1, 1999.
2-9 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to
2-10 actions filed on or after the effective date of this Act. An
2-11 action filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by
2-12 the law in effect at the time the action was filed, and the former
2-13 law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.