By Cuellar                                            H.B. No. 3783
         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 value of certain prizes awarded at a charitable
 1-3     raffle.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 3, Charitable Raffle Enabling Act
 1-6     (Article 179f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
 1-7     amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (m) to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           (g)  A prize offered or awarded at the raffle may not be
1-10     money.  Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (k) and (m)
1-11     of this section, the value of a prize that is offered or awarded at
1-12     the raffle and that is purchased by the organization or for which
1-13     the organization provides any consideration may not exceed $50,000.
1-14           (m)  A prize may consist of a parcel of real property that
1-15     has a value of not more than $150,000 if the real property:
1-16                 (1)  consists solely of land containing a residential
1-17     structure and any related improvements; and
1-18                 (2)  has been owned by the qualified organization
1-19     conducting the raffle and used for its official purposes for at
1-20     least five years before the date the prize is awarded.
1-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-1           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.