1-1     By:  Bivins                                           S.B. No. 1901
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed May 3, 1999; May 4, 1999, read first
 1-3     time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; May 10, 1999,
 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0;
 1-5     May 10, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the disposition or sale of impounded estrays by a
 1-9     county.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  The section heading for Section 142.013,
1-12     Agriculture Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 142.013.  DISPOSITION OR SALE OF IMPOUNDED ESTRAYS.
1-14           SECTION 2.  Section 142.013, Agriculture Code, is amended by
1-15     amending Subsection (a)  and adding Subsection (e) to read as
1-16     follows:
1-17           (a)  If the ownership of an estray is not determined before
1-18     the third day after the date of the final advertisement under this
1-19     chapter or if the estray is not redeemed before the 18th day after
1-20     the date of impoundment, the county has title to the estray and the
1-21     sheriff shall, except as provided by Subsection (e), cause the
1-22     estray to be sold at a sheriff's sale or public auction licensed by
1-23     the United States Department of Agriculture.  Title to the estray
1-24     is considered vested in the sheriff or the sheriff's designee for
1-25     purposes of passing good title, free and clear of all claims, to
1-26     the purchaser at the sale or for the purposes of Subsection (e).
1-27           (e)  If a sheriff determines that the sale of an estray under
1-28     this section is unlikely to generate sufficient proceeds to cover
1-29     the expense of the sale, the sheriff may, instead of selling the
1-30     estray:
1-31                 (1)  donate the estray to a nonprofit organization; or
1-32                 (2)  retain the estray and use it for county purposes.
1-33           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-34           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-35     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-36     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-37     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-38     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-39                                  * * * * *