By Grusendorf                                         H.B. No. 3182
         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 eviction of a residential tenant by a landlord.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Chapter 24, Property Code, is amended by adding a
 1-5     new Section 24.0051 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 24.0051.  In a justice court case in which a sworn
 1-7     complaint if filed by a landlord seeking judgment against a tenant
 1-8     for both eviction and unpaid rent, (a) either personal service on
 1-9     the tenant or alternative service on the tenant under Rule 742a,
1-10     Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, is sufficient, procedurally, to
1-11     support a default judgment for eviction and unpaid rent; and
1-12           (b)  the landlord's right to recover unpaid rent is not
1-13     precluded by the tenant's moving out of the dwelling between the
1-14     date the sworn complaint is filed with the court and the date the
1-15     court enters judgment.
1-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.