By: Creighton  S.B. No. 1725
         (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 2015; March 23, 2015, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Finance; April 13, 2015,
  reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 14, Nays 0;
  April 13, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to notice of excess proceeds following an ad valorem tax
  sale.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 34.03(a), Tax Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         (a)  The clerk of the court shall:
               (1)  if the amount of excess proceeds is more than $25,
  before the 31st day after the date the excess proceeds are received
  by the clerk, send by certified mail, return receipt requested, a
  written notice to the former owner of the property, at the former
  owner's last known address according to the records of the court or
  any other source reasonably available to the court, that:
                     (A)  states the amount of the excess proceeds;
                     (B)  informs the former owner of that owner's
  rights to claim the excess proceeds under Section 34.04; and
                     (C)  includes a copy or the complete text of this
  section and Section 34.04; [and]
               (2)  regardless of the amount, keep the excess proceeds
  paid into court as provided by Section 34.02(d) [34.02(c)] for a
  period of two years after the date of the sale unless otherwise
  ordered by the court; and
               (3)  regardless of the amount, send to the attorney
  general notice of the deposit and amount of excess proceeds if the
  attorney general or a state agency represented by the attorney
  general is named as an in rem defendant in the underlying suit for
  seizure of the property or foreclosure of a tax lien on the
  property.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to the
  disposition of excess proceeds of a property tax foreclosure sale
  paid into court regardless of the date on which the foreclosure sale
  occurred or the date on which the proceeds were paid into the court.
  If on the effective date of this Act the clerk of a court is
  retaining excess proceeds and Section 34.03(a)(3), Tax Code, as
  added by this Act, applies, the clerk shall mail the notice required
  by that subdivision as soon as practicable after the effective date
  of this Act.  The clerk may not distribute those proceeds as
  provided by Section 34.03(b), Tax Code, before the second
  anniversary of the date the notice is mailed.  A claim for the
  proceeds made on or before that second anniversary is considered to
  have been made within the period provided by Section 34.03(b), Tax
  Code.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
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