By Hilbert H.B. No. 1185 Line and page numbers may not match official copy. Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the preservation of the rights of property owners 1-3 through a uniform procedure to acquire and condemn an interest in 1-4 property. 1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-6 SECTION 1. Section 21.017, Property Code, is amended to read 1-7 as follows: 1-8 Sec. 21.017. ALTERNATIVE PLEADINGS. (a) This state, a 1-9 political subdivision of this state, a person, an association of 1-10 persons, or a corporation that is a party to a suit covered by 1-11 Section 21.003 of this code by petition, cross-bill, or plea of 1-12 intervention may assert a claim to the property or, alternatively, 1-13 seek to condemn the property. 1-14 (b) A plea under this section is not an admission of an 1-15 adverse party's title to the property in controversy. 1-16 (c) If a party, as provided in subsection (a), asserts a 1-17 claim to property that it is occupying or otherwise using and, 1-18 thereafter, it is determined that the party knowingly failed to 1-19 acquire all legal interests in the property that would entitle the 1-20 party to fully use and occupy the property for the purposes for 1-21 which the property is being occupied and used, the court shall 2-1 order the party to surrender possession of the property, dismiss 2-2 any action that the party has filed pursuant to subsection (a) and, 2-3 upon dismissal, make an allowance to the property owner for the 2-4 same relief as is provided a property owner in Section 21.0195(c). 2-5 Thereafter, the party shall not be entitled to possess the property 2-6 for any purpose until it has complied fully with the standard 2-7 procedures to condemn provided in Sections 21.0111 through 21.016 2-8 of this Code. 2-9 SECTION 2. This Act applies to all pending cases and 2-10 proceedings and to those filed on or after the effective date of 2-11 this Act. 2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-18 passage, and it is so enacted.