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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to the payment of costs for a cruelly treated animal |
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abandoned by a tenant. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 821.023(e), Health and Safety Code, is |
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amended to read as follows: |
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(e) After a court finds that an animal's owner has cruelly |
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treated the animal, the court shall order the owner to pay all |
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[court] costs to the appropriate party, including: |
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(1) the administrative costs of: |
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(A) investigation; |
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(B) expert witnesses; and |
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(C) conducting any public sale ordered by the |
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court; [and] |
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(2) the costs incurred by a municipal or county animal |
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shelter or a nonprofit animal welfare organization in: |
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(A) housing and caring for the animal during its |
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impoundment; and |
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(B) humanely destroying the animal if |
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destruction is ordered by the court; and |
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(3) any costs incurred by a landlord or landowner in |
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housing and caring for an animal unreasonably abandoned by a tenant |
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after the tenant's eviction. |
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SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to |
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costs incurred by a landlord or landowner on or after the effective |
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date of this Act. |
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SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |