By Brimer                                             H.B. No. 3199
         77R8527 CAS-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain personal property that is presumed abandoned.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Section 72.102(c), Property Code, is amended to
 1-5     read as follows:
 1-6           (c)  A money order to which Subsection (a)  applies is
 1-7     presumed to be abandoned on the latest of:
 1-8                 (1)  the seventh [fifth] anniversary of the date on
 1-9     which the money order was issued;
1-10                 (2)  the seventh [fifth] anniversary of the date on
1-11     which the issuer of the money order last received from the owner of
1-12     the money order communication concerning the money order; or
1-13                 (3)  the seventh [fifth] anniversary of the date of the
1-14     last writing, on file with the issuer, that indicates the owner's
1-15     interest in the money order.
1-16           SECTION 2. Section 72.103, Property Code, is amended to read
1-17     as follows:
1-18           Sec. 72.103.  PRESERVATION OF PROPERTY. Notwithstanding any
1-19     other provision of this title except a provision of this section
1-20     relating to a money order, a holder of abandoned property shall
1-21     preserve the property and may not at any time, by any procedure,
1-22     including a deduction for service, maintenance, or other charge,
1-23     transfer or convert to the profits or assets of the holder or
1-24     otherwise reduce the value of the property.  For purposes of this
 2-1     section, value is determined as of the date of the last transaction
 2-2     or contact concerning the property, except that in the case of a
 2-3     money order, value is determined as of the date the property is
 2-4     presumed abandoned under Section 72.102(c).
 2-5           SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
 2-6     72.102(c), Property Code, does not affect the status of a money
 2-7     order that was presumed abandoned under Section 72.102(c), Property
 2-8     Code, as that law existed immediately before the effective date of
 2-9     this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-10           SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.