Issue 88.11
First Bill of interest clears the Senate
Director of Regulatory Affairs
We have now seen the first bill of interest clear its first chamber, with SB 801 highlighted below passing the full Texas Senate last week on a vote of 30-0. You may also see that this memo has been truncated with the closing of new bill filing. Going forward we will only track those bills making positive progress toward becoming law.
Weekly Highlight
• SB 801 Hughes, Brian – Relating to an instrument that names a trust as a party. Attorneys and other parties will often mistakenly draft a conveyance of property to the name of a trust instead of the name of the trustee. Longstanding law in Texas is that a trust is not an entity. Courts have taken exception to this and in at least one case said a correction deed cannot be used to remedy the flawed deed. Subsequent to the filing of this bill the Texas Attorney General released Opinion KP-042 in response to a request from Senator Donna Campbell as to whether or not a corporation or limited liability company could serve as a Trustee or Substitute Trustee under a Deed of Trust. This opinion affirms that a corporation or other legal entity may serve as a Trustee or Substitute Trustee under a Deed of Trust. Passage of SB 801 will just further formalize what is already taking place.
To read the full text of any of these bills you can go to Texas Legislature Online.
Bills on the Move
Sent to the other Chamber
• SB 801 Hughes, Brian – Relating to an instrument that names a trust as a party. Passed the Senate March 16th
Reported Favorably (Committee Approved)
• HB 92 Landgraf, Brooks – Relating to the authority of a municipality, county, or property owners’ association to prohibit or regulate certain activities on residence homestead property. Reported favorably March 15th. Agriculture
Committee Hearings Held (pending vote)
• HB 4 Capriglione, Giovanni – Relating to the regulation of the collection, use, processing, and treatment of consumers’ personal data by certain business entities; imposing a civil penalty. (Companion HB1844) Testimony taken March 13th, left pending. Business and Industry
• HB 207 Murr, Andrew – Relating to the exclusion of certain conveyances from classification as sham or pretended sales. Testimony to be taken March 20th. Business and Industry
• HB 219 Noble, Candy – (HB 219 was previously filed in 87th Session as HB 3278 but left pending in Committee without a vote.) Relating to the release of a deed of trust or other contract lien securing a home loan after payoff by mortgagor. Testimony to be taken March 15th. Pensions, Investments and Financial Services
• HB 264 Toth, Steve – (HB 264 was previously filed in 87th Session as HB 2284 it was approved in Committee and sent to Calendars.) Relating to requirements for the physical presence of a borrower for signing certain documents related to a home equity loan. Testimony taken March 15th, left pending. Pensions, Investments and Financial Services
• HB 697 Holland, Justin – Relating to seller’s disclosures regarding fuel gas piping in residential real property. Testimony taken March 13th, left pending. Business and Industry
• HB 1195 Holland, Justin – Relating to the authority of a county to require photo Identification to file certain documents with the county clerk. This bill strikes the existing population threshold of 800,000 citizens and extends the existing authority to all Texas counties. (Companion to SB 319) Testimony taken March 15th, left pending. County Affairs
• HB 1704 Walle, Armando – Relating to the establishment of the workforce housing capital investment fund program to fund the development of workforce housing in this state; authorizing a fee. (Companion SB 2528) Testimony to be taken March 21st. Urban Affairs
• HB 2127 Burrows, Dustin – Relating to state preemption of certain municipal and county regulation. (Companion to SB 814) Testimony taken March 15th, left pending. State Affairs
• HJR 20 Toth, Steve – (HJR 20 was previously filed in 87th Session as HJR 104 it was approved in Committee and sent to Calendars.) Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for exceptions to the requirement that a home equity loan be closed only at the office of the lender, an attorney at law, or a title company. Testimony taken March 15th, left pending. Pensions, Investments and Financial Services
• SB 147 Kolkhorst, Lois – Relating to the purchase of or acquisition of title to real property by certain aliens or foreign entities. Testimony taken March 2nd, left pending. State Affairs
• SB 319 Hall, Bob – Relating to the authority of a county to require photo Identification to file certain documents with the county clerk. This bill strikes the existing population threshold of 800,000 citizens and extends the existing authority to all Texas counties. (Companion to HB 1195) Testimony to be taken March 15th. County Affairs
• SB 711 Perry, Charles – Relating to the purchase of or other acquisition of title to real property by prohibited foreign actors. Testimony taken March 2nd, left pending. State Affairs
• SB 768 Parker, Tan – Relating to the process for notifying the attorney general of a breach of security of computerized data by persons doing business in this state. (Companion HB1660) Testimony taken March 14th, left pending Business and Commerce
To see the full list of bills of interest that we are tracking: 88th Texas Legislature – Polunsky Beitel Green (mortgagelaw.com)
If you have questions about these specific bills or the Texas legislative process in general, please reach out to Doug Foster or one of our firm’s attorneys or representatives at: https://www.mortgagelaw.com/our-team/