By Thompson H.B. No. 3308
76R8155 JD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the payment of certain costs incurred in connection
1-3 with a suit to collect delinquent ad valorem taxes.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 33.48, Tax Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-7 (d) Proceeds received or collected from a defendant in a
1-8 suit to collect delinquent taxes shall first be applied to the
1-9 items described by Subsections (a)(1)-(3). A person who receives
1-10 proceeds from a defendant shall promptly remit the proceeds to the
1-11 court for distribution.
1-12 SECTION 2. Section 33.49, Tax Code, is amended to read as
1-13 follows:
1-14 Sec. 33.49. LIABILITY OF TAXING UNIT FOR COSTS. (a) Except
1-15 as provided by Subsection (b) of this section, a taxing unit is not
1-16 liable in a suit to collect taxes for court costs, including any
1-17 fees for service of process, arbitration, or mediation, and may not
1-18 be required to post security for costs. This subsection does not
1-19 apply to a cost described by Section 33.48(a).
1-20 (b) A taxing unit shall pay the cost of publishing
1-21 citations, notices of sale, or other notices from the unit's
1-22 general fund as soon as practicable [after receipt of the
1-23 publisher's claim for payment]. In addition, the taxing unit shall
1-24 pay all costs of court for which the unit is liable, including fees
2-1 for service of process in suits filed in error, as soon as
2-2 practicable. The taxing unit is entitled to reimbursement from
2-3 other taxing units that are parties to the suit for their
2-4 proportionate share of the publication costs on satisfaction of any
2-5 portion of the tax indebtedness before further distribution of the
2-6 proceeds. A taxing unit may not pay a word or line rate for
2-7 publication of citation or other required notice that exceeds the
2-8 rate the newspaper publishing the notice charges private entities
2-9 for similar classes of advertising.
2-10 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. The
2-11 changes in law made by this Act apply only to a suit to collect
2-12 delinquent ad valorem taxes that is filed on or after September 1,
2-13 1999.
2-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.