1-1 By: Telford (Senate Sponsor - Lindsay) H.B. No. 3081 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 1999; 1-3 May 3, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Jurisprudence; May 11, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable 1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; 1-6 May 11, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3081 By: Wentworth 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to preventing the seizure of a work of fine art when en 1-11 route to or in an exhibition. 1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-13 SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is 1-14 amended by adding Subchapter E to read as follows: 1-15 SUBCHAPTER E. WORKS OF FINE ART 1-16 Sec. 61.081. EXEMPTION WHEN EN ROUTE TO OR IN AN EXHIBITION. 1-17 (a) Subject to the limitations of this section, a court may not 1-18 issue and a person may not serve any process of attachment, 1-19 execution, sequestration, replevin, or distress or of any kind of 1-20 seizure, levy, or sale on a work of fine art while it is: 1-21 (1) en route to an exhibition; or 1-22 (2) in the possession of the exhibitor or on display 1-23 as part of the exhibition. 1-24 (b) The restriction on the issuance and service of process 1-25 in Subsection (a) applies only for a period that: 1-26 (1) begins on the date that the work of fine art is en 1-27 route to an exhibition; and 1-28 (2) ends on the earlier of the following dates: 1-29 (A) six months after the date that the work of 1-30 fine art is en route to the exhibition; or 1-31 (B) the date that the exhibition ends. 1-32 (c) Subsection (a) does not apply to a work of fine art if, 1-33 at any other time, issuance and service of process in relation to 1-34 the work has been restricted as provided by Subsection (a). 1-35 (d) Subsection (a) does not apply if theft of the work of 1-36 art from its owner is alleged and found proven by the court. 1-37 (e) A court shall, in issuing service of process described 1-38 by Subsection (a), require that the person serving the process give 1-39 notice to the exhibitor not less than seven days before the date 1-40 the period under Subsection (b) ends of the person's intent to 1-41 serve process. 1-42 (f) In this section, "exhibition" means an exhibition: 1-43 (1) held under the auspices or supervision of: 1-44 (A) an organization exempt from federal income 1-45 tax under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as 1-46 amended, by being listed as an exempt organization in Section 1-47 501(c)(3) of the code; or 1-48 (B) a public or private institution of higher 1-49 education; 1-50 (2) held for a cultural, educational, or charitable 1-51 purpose; and 1-52 (3) not held for the profit of the exhibitor. 1-53 Sec. 61.082. HANDLING AND TRANSPORTATION. A court may not 1-54 issue any process of attachment, execution, sequestration, 1-55 replevin, or distress or of any kind of seizure, levy, or sale on a 1-56 work of fine art unless the court requires, as part of the order 1-57 authorizing the process, that the work of fine art is handled and 1-58 transported in a manner that complies with the accepted standards 1-59 of the artistic community for works of fine art, including, if 1-60 appropriate, measures relating to the maintenance of proper 1-61 environmental conditions, proper maintenance, security, and 1-62 insurance coverage. 1-63 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 1-64 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-5 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-6 * * * * *