By: Canales, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Lucio) H.B. No. 1099
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 24, 2017;
May 3, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
Commerce; May 17, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 17, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a residential tenant's right to summon police or other
emergency assistance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 92.015(a) and (b), Property Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A landlord may not:
(1) prohibit or limit a residential tenant's right to
summon police or other emergency assistance based on the tenant's
reasonable belief that an individual is in need of intervention or
emergency assistance [in response to family violence]; or
(2) impose monetary or other penalties on a tenant who
summons police or emergency assistance if the assistance was
requested or dispatched based on the tenant's reasonable belief
that an individual was in need of intervention or emergency
assistance [in response to family violence].
(b) A provision in a lease is void if the provision purports
to:
(1) waive a tenant's right to summon police or other
emergency assistance based on the tenant's reasonable belief that
an individual is in need of intervention or emergency assistance
[in response to family violence]; or
(2) exempt any party from a liability or a duty under
this section.
SECTION 2. Section 92.015(e), Property Code, is repealed.
SECTION 3. Section 92.015, Property Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to a lease entered into or renewed on or
after the effective date of this Act. A lease entered into or
renewed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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