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By:  Jackson                                                      S.B. No. 580
	(In the Senate - Filed February 19, 2003; February 24, 2003, 
read first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce; 
March 26, 2003, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9, 
Nays 0; March 26, 2003, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the execution of a writ of possession in certain 
circumstances.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsections (d) and (e), Section 24.0061, 
Property Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(d)  The writ of possession shall order the officer executing 
the writ to:   
		(1)  post a written warning of at least 8 1/2 by 11 
inches on the exterior of the front door of the rental unit 
notifying the tenant that the writ has been issued and that the writ 
will be executed on or after a specific date and time stated in the 
warning not sooner than 24 hours after the warning is posted; and
		(2)  when the writ is executed:                                               
			(A)  deliver possession of the premises to the 
landlord;                   
			(B)  instruct the tenant and all persons claiming 
under the tenant to leave the premises immediately, and, if the 
persons fail to comply, physically remove them;
			(C)  instruct the tenant to remove or to allow the 
landlord, the landlord's representatives, or other persons acting 
under the officer's supervision to remove all personal property 
from the rental unit other than personal property claimed to be 
owned by the landlord; and
			(D)  except as provided by Subsection (e), place, 
or have an authorized person place, the removed personal property 
outside the rental unit at a nearby location, but not blocking a 
public sidewalk, passageway, or street and not while it is raining, 
sleeting, or snowing.
	(e)  The writ of possession shall authorize the officer, at 
the officer's discretion, to engage the services of a bonded or 
insured warehouseman to remove and store, subject to applicable 
law, part or all of the property at no cost to the landlord or the 
officer executing the writ.  If an officer chooses to engage the 
services of a bonded or insured warehouseman, a tenant's personal 
property may be removed from the rental unit while it is raining, 
sleeting, or snowing.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a suit for forcible entry, forcible detainer, or 
forcible entry and detainer filed on or after that date.  A suit for 
forcible entry, forcible detainer, or forcible entry and detainer 
filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law 
applicable to the suit at the time the suit was filed, and the 
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.



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