1-1     By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1204
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     April 23, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 23, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the elements of and damages for trespass relating to
 1-9     billboards or other outdoor advertising.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Sections 80.002 and 80.003, Civil Practice and
1-12     Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 80.002.  TRESPASS.  A trespass occurs when an
1-14     individual:
1-15                 (1)  erects or[,] places[, or maintains] a sign on
1-16     premises without the permission of the owner of the premises; or
1-17                 (2)  after the expiration or termination of an
1-18     agreement with the owner of the premises for the erection,
1-19     placement, or maintenance of a sign on the premises and before the
1-20     expiration of the period described by Section 80.003(b)(2), fails
1-21     to remove or abandons a sign or fails to obtain from the owner of
1-22     the premises permission for the continued use [on the expiration or
1-23     termination of an agreement with the owner of the premises for the
1-24     erection, placement,] or maintenance of the [a] sign on the
1-25     premises.
1-26           Sec. 80.003.  DAMAGES.  (a)  The owner of the premises is
1-27     entitled to recover damages equal to the amount of [all] payments
1-28     [and benefits] received by or accruing [owing] to the owner of the
1-29     sign from the rental, sale, lease, or other use of the sign during
1-30     the period after the expiration of the 30th day after the date on
1-31     which the written notice required by Subsection (b)(1) is received
1-32     and before the date on which the sign is removed or permission for
1-33     the continued use or maintenance of the sign is obtained.
1-34           (b)  The owner of the premises may not recover damages for
1-35     trespass under this section unless:
1-36                 (1)  the owner of the premises sends, by certified
1-37     mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the sign written
1-38     demand for removal of the sign, stating in detail the act
1-39     constituting the trespass and the location where the sign has been
1-40     erected, placed, or maintained; and
1-41                 (2)  the owner of the sign fails to remove the sign or
1-42     obtain permission from the owner of the premises for the continued
1-43     use or maintenance of the sign before the 30th day after the date
1-44     on which the notice described by Subdivision (1) was received [of
1-45     the trespass].
1-46           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-47           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies to a trespass
1-48     regardless of whether the agreement concerning the erection,
1-49     placement, or maintenance of the sign expired before, on, or after
1-50     the effective date of this Act.
1-51           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-52     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56                                  * * * * *