1-1     By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1316
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
 1-4     May 6, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 6, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1316              By:  Armbrister
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the requiring of notice and the assessment of damages
1-11     in a condemnation proceeding.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 21, Property Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Section 21.0411 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 21.0411.  ALTERNATE VALUATION DATE; NOTICE.  (a)  In a
1-16     condemnation proceeding under this chapter, the property owner may
1-17     choose a date for determining the value of the property to be
1-18     condemned other than the date prescribed by Section 21.042(b).  The
1-19     property owner may choose any date after the date the condemnor
1-20     publicly manifests an intention to acquire the owner's property if
1-21     the date is:
1-22                 (1)  on or before the special commissioners' hearing
1-23     date; and
1-24                 (2)  within the five years preceding the date of the
1-25     hearing.
1-26           (b)  A governmental entity that files a petition under
1-27     Section 21.012 shall provide written notice to the property owner
1-28     of the property to be condemned by certified mail, return receipt
1-29     requested, not later than the 10th day after the date the entity
1-30     files the petition informing the property owner of:
1-31                 (1)  the property owner's right to choose under
1-32     Subsection (a); and
1-33                 (2)  the period prescribed by Subsection (c) for
1-34     providing notice to the condemnor regarding the owner's choice.
1-35           (c)  The property owner must provide written notice to the
1-36     condemnor by certified mail, return receipt requested, not later
1-37     than the 45th day after the date the property owner receives the
1-38     notice under Subsection (b) informing the condemnor of the property
1-39     owner's choice of valuation date under Subsection (a).
1-40           (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), only the improvements
1-41     existing on the property on the date of the special commissioners'
1-42     hearing may be considered in determining the property's value for
1-43     purposes of this chapter.
1-44           SECTION 2.  Subsections (b), (c), and (e), Section 21.042,
1-45     Property Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-46           (b)  If an entire tract or parcel of real property is
1-47     condemned, the damage to the property owner is the local market
1-48     value of the property:
1-49                 (1)  at the time of the special commissioners' hearing;
1-50     or
1-51                 (2)  on the date chosen by the property owner under
1-52     Section 21.0411.
1-53           (c)  If a portion of a tract or parcel of real property is
1-54     condemned, the special commissioners shall determine the damage to
1-55     the property owner after estimating the extent of the injury and
1-56     benefit to the property owner, including the effect of the
1-57     condemnation on the value of the property owner's remaining
1-58     property.  For purposes of this subsection, the value of property
1-59     is determined in the same manner as authorized for determining the
1-60     value of property under Subsection (b).
1-61           (e)  If a portion of a tract or parcel of real property is
1-62     condemned for the use, construction, operation, or maintenance of
1-63     the state highway system or of a county toll project described by
1-64     Chapter 284, Transportation Code, that is eligible for designation
 2-1     as part of the state highway system, or for the use, construction,
 2-2     development, operation, or maintenance of an improvement or project
 2-3     by a metropolitan rapid transit authority created before January 1,
 2-4     1980, with a principal municipality having a population of less
 2-5     than 1,200,000 and established under Chapter 451, Transportation
 2-6     Code, the special commissioners shall determine the damage to the
 2-7     property owner regardless of whether the property owner makes a
 2-8     claim for damages to the remaining property.  In awarding
 2-9     compensation or assessing the damages, the special commissioners
2-10     shall consider any special and direct benefits that arise from the
2-11     highway improvement or the transit authority improvement or project
2-12     that are peculiar to the property owner and that relate to the
2-13     property owner's ownership, use, or enjoyment of the particular
2-14     parcel of remaining real property.  For purposes of this
2-15     subsection, the value of property is determined in the same manner
2-16     as authorized for determining the value of property under
2-17     Subsection (b).
2-18           SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
2-19     assessment of damages in a condemnation proceeding for which a
2-20     special commissioners' hearing begins on or after the effective
2-21     date of this Act.  Assessment of damages in a condemnation
2-22     proceeding for which a special commissioners' hearing began before
2-23     the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
2-24     at the time the hearing began, and the former law is continued in
2-25     effect for that purpose.
2-26           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, but only
2-27     if S.B. No. 1547, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session,
2-28     1999, is enacted and becomes law.  If S.B. No. 1547, Acts of the
2-29     76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is not enacted or does not
2-30     become law, this Act has no effect.
2-31           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-32     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-33     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-34     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-35     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-36                                  * * * * *