BILL ANALYSIS
By: Leibowitz
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Residents of affordable housing developments are often in need of having documents notarized. These documents can include powers-of-attorney, wills, vehicle titles, court documents, and signature and date authentications. For residents of affordable housing, these costs can add up. The committee substitute for House Bill No. 1389 encourages the provision of free notary public services by having the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to award points, in a score-and-rank system, to the application for housing tax credits of housing developments that will provide free notary public services to their tenants.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the opinion of the Committee on Business and Industry that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1: This bill encourages the provision of free notary public services by awarding points to the application for housing tax credits of housing developments that will provide free notary public services to their tenants.
SECTION 2: The Act is prospective.
SECTION 3: Effective date is September 1, 2005.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005
COMPARISON OF SUBSTITUTE TO ORIGINAL
The substitute modifies the original version of the bill by striking the original SECTION 1 of the bill that made provision of notarial services absolutely mandatory for affordable housing developments with more than 100 units and replacing it with the SECTION 1, as described above, which merely gives an incentive to provide such notarial services.