By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 1007
         76R2545 PAM-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to providing notice of a foreclosure sale of real
 1-3     property.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 51.002(b) and (f), Property Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  Notice of the sale, which must include a statement of
 1-8     the earliest time at which the sale will begin, must be:
 1-9                 (1)  given at least 21 days before the date of the
1-10     sale:
1-11                       (A) [(1)]  by posting at the courthouse door of
1-12     each county in which the property is located a written notice
1-13     designating the county in which the property will be sold;
1-14                       (B) [(2)]  by filing in the office of the county
1-15     clerk of each county in which the property is located a copy of the
1-16     notice posted  under Paragraph (A) [Subdivision (1)]; and
1-17                       (C) [(3)]  by the holder of the debt to which the
1-18     power of sale is related serving written notice of the sale by
1-19     certified mail on each debtor who, according to the records of the
1-20     holder of the debt, is obligated to pay the debt; and
1-21                 (2)  published in a newspaper of general circulation in
1-22     each county in which the property is located at least once each
1-23     week for three consecutive weeks before the date of the sale, with
1-24     the first publication appearing at least 21 days before the date of
 2-1     the sale, designating the place of the sale and providing a brief
 2-2     description of the property sufficient to identify the location of
 2-3     the property.
 2-4           (f)  Each county clerk shall keep all notices filed under
 2-5     [Subdivision (2) of] Subsection (b)(1)(B) in a convenient file that
 2-6     is available to the public for examination during normal business
 2-7     hours.  The clerk may dispose of the  notices after the date of
 2-8     sale specified in the notice has passed.  The clerk shall receive a
 2-9     fee of $2 for each notice filed.
2-10           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
2-12     notice of sale that must be provided under Section 51.002, Property
2-13     Code, as amended by this Act, for a sale of real property under a
2-14     power of sale conferred by a deed of trust or other contract lien
2-15     that occurs on or after October 1, 1999.
2-16           (c)  A notice of sale that must be provided for a sale of
2-17     real property under a power of sale conferred by a deed of trust or
2-18     other contract lien that occurs before October 1, 1999, is governed
2-19     by the law in effect immediately preceding the effective date of
2-20     this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
2-21     purpose.
2-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.