By Talton                                              H.B. No. 830
         76R2199 DAK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to an employee of a personal bond office administering
 1-3     oaths to or taking an acknowledgment or proof of a written
 1-4     instrument from personal bond applicants.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 602.002, Government Code, is amended to
 1-7     read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 602.002.  OATH MADE IN TEXAS.   An oath made in this
 1-9     state may be administered and a certificate of the fact given by:
1-10                 (1)  a judge, clerk, or commissioner of a court of
1-11     record;
1-12                 (2)  a justice of the peace or a clerk of a justice
1-13     court;
1-14                 (3)  a notary public;
1-15                 (4)  a member of a board or commission created by a law
1-16     of this  state, in a matter pertaining to a duty of the board or
1-17     commission;
1-18                 (5)  a person employed by the Texas Ethics Commission
1-19     who has a duty related to a report required by Title 15, Election
1-20     Code, in a matter pertaining to that duty;
1-21                 (6)  a county tax assessor-collector or an employee of
1-22     the county tax assessor-collector if the oath relates to a document
1-23     that is required or authorized to be filed in the office of the
1-24     county tax assessor-collector;
 2-1                 (7)  an employee of a personal bond office if the oath
 2-2     is required or authorized by Article 17.04, Code of Criminal
 2-3     Procedure;
 2-4                 (8)  the secretary of state;
 2-5                 (9) [(8)]  the lieutenant governor;
 2-6                 (10) [(9)]  the speaker of the house of
 2-7     representatives; or
 2-8                 (11) [(10)]  the governor.
 2-9           SECTION 2.  Section 121.001(a), Civil Practice and Remedies
2-10     Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-11           (a)  An acknowledgment or proof of a written instrument may
2-12     be taken in this state by:
2-13                 (1)  a clerk of a district court;
2-14                 (2)  a judge or clerk of a county court;
2-15                 (3)  a notary public; [or]
2-16                 (4)  a county tax assessor-collector or an employee of
2-17     the county tax assessor-collector if the instrument is required or
2-18     authorized to be filed in the office of the county tax
2-19     assessor-collector; or
2-20                 (5)  an employee of a personal bond office if the
2-21     acknowledgment or proof of a written instrument is required or
2-22     authorized by Article 17.04, Code of  Criminal Procedure.
2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-1     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-2     passage, and it is so enacted.