82R2907 CAE-D

By: Hartnett H.B. No. 962

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to rules regarding return of service.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 17, Civil Practice and

Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 17.030 to read as

follows:

Sec. 17.030. RETURN OF SERVICE. (a) The supreme court

shall adopt rules of civil procedure requiring a person who serves

process to complete a return of service.

(b) The rules:

(1) must provide that the return of service:

(A) is not required to be endorsed or attached to

the original process issued; and

(B) may be electronically filed; and

(2) may require that the following information be

included in the return of service:

(A) the cause number and case name;

(B) the court in which the case has been filed;

(C) the date and time process was received for

service;

(D) the person or entity served;

(E) the address served;

(F) the date of service;

(G) the manner of delivery of service;

(H) a description of process served;

(I) the name of the person serving process; and

(J) if the process server is certified as a

process server by the supreme court, the process server's

identification number.

(c) A person certified by the supreme court as a process

server or a person authorized outside of Texas to serve process

shall sign the return of service under penalty of perjury. The

return of service is not required to be verified.

(d) A person who knowingly or intentionally falsifies a

return of service may be prosecuted for tampering with a

governmental record as provided by Chapter 37, Penal Code.

SECTION 2. Section 17.065(b), Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) The return of service under this section [shall be

endorsed on or attached to the original process issued and] must:

(1) state when it was served;

(2) state on whom it was served; and

(3) be signed under penalty of perjury [and sworn to]

by the party making the service [before a person authorized by law

to make an affidavit under his hand and seal].

SECTION 3. Section 17.030, Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, as added by this Act, and Section 17.065, Civil Practice and

Remedies Code, as amended by this Act, apply to all process served

on or after January 1, 2012, without regard to whether the process

was issued before, on, or after that date.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect January 1, 2012.