85R3555 DMS-F
 
  By: Canales H.B. No. 1099
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a residential tenant's right to summon police or other
  emergency assistance.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 92.015(a) and (b), Property Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  A landlord may not:
               (1)  prohibit or limit a residential tenant's right to
  summon police or other emergency assistance based on the tenant's
  reasonable belief that an individual is in need of intervention or
  emergency assistance [in response to family violence]; or
               (2)  impose monetary or other penalties on a tenant who
  summons police or emergency assistance if the assistance was
  requested or dispatched based on the tenant's reasonable belief
  that an individual was in need of intervention or emergency
  assistance [in response to family violence].
         (b)  A provision in a lease is void if the provision purports
  to:
               (1)  waive a tenant's right to summon police or other
  emergency assistance based on the tenant's reasonable belief that
  an individual is in need of intervention or emergency assistance
  [in response to family violence]; or
               (2)  exempt any party from a liability or a duty under
  this section.
         SECTION 2.  Section 92.015(e), Property Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 3.  Section 92.015, Property Code, as amended by
  this Act, applies only to a lease entered into or renewed on or
  after the effective date of this Act. A lease entered into or
  renewed 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 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.