87R10189 BEE-D

By: Morales Shaw H.B. No. 4255

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the removal of certain unconstitutional provisions from real property records.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Property Code, is amended by adding Section 11.009 to read as follows:

Sec. 11.009. REMOVAL OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FROM REAL PROPERTY RECORDS. (a) To the extent of any conflict between this section and other law, this section prevails.

(b) An owner of real property may request, on a form developed under Subsection (e), that the county clerk of a county in which all or part of the property is located remove from a recorded instrument affecting or conveying an interest in the property a provision that:

(1) violates the United States Constitution;

(2) is unenforceable under law; and

(3) is unambiguously discriminatory.

(c) A county clerk may not charge a fee for filing a request under this section.

(d) Not later than the 30th day after the date a county clerk receives a request under Subsection (b), the county clerk shall determine whether the provision identified in the request satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b) and:

(1) if the county clerk determines the provision identified in the request satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b):

(A) shall remove the provision from the instrument; and

(B) shall attach to the instrument a document stating that a provision that satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b) has been removed from the instrument; or

(2) if the county clerk determines the provision identified in the request does not satisfy the requirements of Subsection (b), notify the person who submitted the request that the provision has not been removed.

(e) The supreme court shall develop the form required by Subsection (b). The form must allow the person requesting the removal of a provision under this section to provide:

(1) the name of the owner of the property that is the subject of the request;

(2) a description of the property sufficient for a county clerk to identify the recorded instrument that is the subject of the request, including the address of the property, if any; and

(3) the provision the owner believes satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b).

(f) Each county clerk shall make:

(1) the form developed under Subsection (e) available on the county clerk's Internet website; and

(2) copies of the form developed under Subsection (e) available on request from the county clerk's office.

SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court shall develop and make available to each county clerk the form required by Section 11.009(e), Property Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2022.

(b) Section 2 of this Act takes effect September 1, 2021.