1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to prohibiting the recording of a plat or replat of a
1-3 subdivision of real property if ad valorem taxes are delinquent.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 12.002, Property Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), (e), and (f) and adding
1-7 Subsection (g) to read as follows:
1-8 (a) The county clerk or a deputy of the clerk with whom a
1-9 plat or replat of a subdivision of real property is filed for
1-10 recording shall determine whether the plat or replat is required by
1-11 law to be approved by a county or municipal authority or both. The
1-12 clerk or deputy may not record a plat or replat [requiring
1-13 approval] unless it is approved as provided by law by the
1-14 appropriate authority and unless the plat or replat has attached to
1-15 it the documents required by Subsection (e) or by Section 212.0105
1-16 or 232.023 [232.0035], Local Government Code, if applicable. If a
1-17 plat or replat does not indicate whether land covered by the plat
1-18 or replat is in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the
1-19 municipality, the county clerk may require the person filing the
1-20 plat or replat for recording to file with the clerk an affidavit
1-21 stating that information.
1-22 (b) A person may not file for record or have recorded in the
1-23 county clerk's office a plat or replat of a subdivision of real
1-24 property unless it is approved as provided by law by the
2-1 appropriate authority and unless the plat or replat has attached to
2-2 it the documents required by Section 212.0105 or 232.023
2-3 [232.0035], Local Government Code, if applicable.
2-4 (c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a person who
2-5 subdivides real property may not use the subdivision's description
2-6 in a deed of conveyance, a contract for a deed, or a contract of
2-7 sale or other executory contract to convey that is delivered to a
2-8 purchaser unless the plat or replat of the subdivision is approved
2-9 and is filed for record with the county clerk of the county in
2-10 which the property is located and unless the plat or replat has
2-11 attached to it the documents required by Subsection (e) or by
2-12 Section 212.0105 or 232.023 [232.0035], Local Government Code, if
2-13 applicable.
2-14 (e) A person may not file for record or have recorded in the
2-15 county clerk's office a plat or replat of a subdivision of real
2-16 property unless the plat or replat has attached to it an original
2-17 tax certificate from each taxing unit with jurisdiction of the real
2-18 property indicating that no delinquent ad valorem taxes are owed on
2-19 the real property. This subsection does not apply if more than one
2-20 person acquired the real property from a decedent under a will or
2-21 by inheritance and those persons owning an undivided interest in
2-22 the property obtained approval to subdivide the property to provide
2-23 each person with a divided interest and a separate title to the
2-24 property.
2-25 (f) A person commits an offense if the person violates
2-26 Subsection (b), [or] (c), or (e). An offense under this subsection
2-27 is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $10 or more
3-1 than $500, by confinement in the county jail for a term not to
3-2 exceed 90 days, or by both the fine and confinement. Each
3-3 violation constitutes a separate offense and also constitutes prima
3-4 facie evidence of an attempt to defraud.
3-5 (g) [(f)] This section does not apply to a partition by a
3-6 court.
3-7 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1563 was passed by the House on May
11, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1563 was passed by the Senate on May
26, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor