By: Schwertner , et al. S.B. No. 627
(In the Senate - Filed January 26, 2017; February 13, 2017,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
April 5, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 5, 2017,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 627 By: Schwertner
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 actual 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) seek to negotiate the terms of the
examination or survey of the property by the condemning entity; and
(ii) 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 consent to 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 CONSENT FORM. If an entity with
eminent domain authority provides a form to an owner of real
property requesting the owner's consent 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 seek to negotiate the
terms of the examination or survey of the property;
(2) the entity may sue for a court order authorizing
the entity to enter the property and conduct the examination or
survey if the owner refuses to consent to the examination or survey;
and
(3) the entity has the responsibility for any actual
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, 2018.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect January 1, 2018.
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