By: Schwertner, et al.  S.B. No. 552
         (In the Senate - Filed January 31, 2019; February 21, 2019,
  read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  March 13, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas  9,
  Nays 0; March 13, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to notice of a property owner's rights relating to the
  examination or survey of property by an entity with eminent domain
  authority.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 402.031(c), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (c)  The statement must include:
               (1)  the title, "Landowner's Bill of Rights"; and
               (2)  a description of:
                     (A)  the condemnation procedure provided by
  Chapter 21, Property Code;
                     (B)  the condemning entity's obligations to the
  property owner, including the responsibility for any damages
  arising from an examination or survey of the property; [and]
                     (C)  the property owner's options during a
  condemnation, including the property owner's right to:
                           (i)  refuse to grant permission to the
  condemning entity to enter the property and conduct an examination
  or survey of the property;
                           (ii)  negotiate the terms of the examination
  or survey of the property; and
                           (iii)  object to and appeal an amount of
  damages awarded; and
                     (D)  the condemning entity's right to sue for a
  court order authorizing the examination or survey if the property
  owner refuses to grant permission for the examination or survey.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Property Code, is
  amended by adding Section 21.01101 to read as follows:
         Sec. 21.01101.  SURVEY PERMISSION FORM. If an entity with
  eminent domain authority provides a form to an owner of real
  property requesting the owner's permission to enter the property to
  examine the property or conduct a survey of the property in
  connection with the potential acquisition of the property for a
  public use, the form must conspicuously state that:
               (1)  the owner has a right to refuse to grant permission
  to the entity to enter the property and conduct the examination or
  survey;
               (2)  the entity has a right to sue for a court order
  authorizing the entity to enter the property and conduct the
  examination or survey if the owner refuses to grant the permission;
               (3)  the owner has a right to negotiate the terms of the
  examination or survey of the property; and
               (4)  the entity has the responsibility for any damages
  arising from an examination or survey of the property.
         SECTION 3.  The office of the attorney general shall make the
  landowner's bill of rights statement required by Section 402.031,
  Government Code, as amended by this Act, available on the attorney
  general's Internet website not later than January 1, 2020.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2020.
 
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