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 * * * * *