H.B. No. 167

	AN ACT
	relating to exempting a religious bible from attachment, execution,
	or other seizure for the satisfaction of debts.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 42.001, Property Code, is amended by
	amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read
	as follows:
	(b)  The following personal property is exempt from seizure
	and is not included in the aggregate limitations prescribed by
	Subsection (a):
	(1)  current wages for personal services, except for
	the enforcement of court-ordered child support payments;
	(2)  professionally prescribed health aids of a debtor
	or a dependent of a debtor; [and]
	(3)  alimony, support, or separate maintenance
	received or to be received by the debtor for the support of the
	debtor or a dependent of the debtor; and
	(4)  a religious bible or other book containing sacred
	writings of a religion that is seized by a creditor other than a
	lessor of real property who is exercising the lessor's contractual
	or statutory right to seize personal property after a tenant
	breaches a lease agreement for or abandons the real property.
	(c)  Except as provided by Subsection (b)(4), this [This]
	section does not prevent seizure by a secured creditor with a
	contractual landlord's lien or other security in the property to be
	seized.
	(e)  A religious bible or other book described by Subsection
	(b)(4) that is seized by a lessor of real property in the exercise
	of the lessor's contractual or statutory right to seize personal
	property after a tenant breaches a lease agreement for the real
	property or abandons the real property may not be included in the
	aggregate limitations prescribed by Subsection (a).
	SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act do not apply
	to property that is, as of the effective date of this Act, subject
	to a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding or to valid claims of a holder
	of a final judgment who has, by levy or other legal process,
	obtained rights superior to those that would otherwise be held by a
	trustee in bankruptcy if a bankruptcy petition were then pending
	against the debtor. That property is subject to the law as it
	existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the
	prior law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 167 was passed by the House on March
	28, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 167 on May 17, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1
	present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 167 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 15, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor