S.B. No. 1725

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.

______________________________          ______________________________
President of the Senate                  Speaker of the House

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1725 passed the Senate on
April 15, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________
Secretary of the Senate

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1725 passed the House on
May 22, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, two
present not voting.

______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House

Approved:

______________________________
Date

______________________________
Governor