By: Hughes (Senate Sponsor - Watson) H.B. No. 1804
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 2009;
  April 27, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Jurisprudence; April 30, 2009, reported favorably by the following
  vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; April 30, 2009, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to service of process for delinquent taxes on a
  nonresident.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 17.091(a), (b), and (c), Civil Practice
  and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  In a suit to collect delinquent property taxes by the
  state or a political subdivision of the state in which a person who
  is a defendant in the suit is a nonresident, the secretary of state
  is an agent for service of process on that defendant if the
  defendant owns, has, or claims an interest in or a lien against
  property in this state that is the subject of the suit. This
  section applies regardless of whether the defendant has resided in
  this state.
         (b)  Duplicate copies of the process issued by the clerk of
  the court in which the suit is pending must be served on the
  secretary of state not later than the 20th day before the date of
  return stated in the process. The process must include the name and
  address of the nonresident's home or home office. The address may
  be a post office box. [Process may be served on the secretary of
  state in accordance with this section for a nonresident who was a
  resident at the time the cause of action accrued but has
  subsequently moved.]
         (c)  Immediately after being served, the secretary of state
  shall mail a copy of the process to the nonresident at the address
  provided under Subsection (b) by certified mail, return receipt
  requested, with the postage prepaid. The secretary of state shall
  certify to the court that issued the process that the secretary of
  state has complied with this section. [Service of process under
  this section shall be made in the manner provided by this chapter
  for substituted service on nonresident motor vehicle operators,
  except that a copy of the process must be mailed by certified mail.]
         SECTION 2.  Section 17.091, Civil Practice and Remedies
  Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to service of process
  issued on or after the effective date of this Act. Service of
  process issued before the effective date of this Act is governed by
  the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this
  Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
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