This past week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called a second special session of the 89th Texas Legislature. The first special session was adjourned early when enough House Democrats left the state, breaking quorum and prohibiting any floor votes for two weeks. Their departure was intended to prevent the redrawing of U.S. Congressional District maps—a process the President had requested in hopes of gaining five additional Republican representatives.
On Monday, August 18th, a quorum was reestablished in the House. The Governor sets the agenda for special sessions, which cannot last more than 30 days, and only those items on the agenda may be acted upon. The agenda for this second session includes all 18 items from the first special session, plus one additional item addressing youth camp safety.
The only financial services-related item on the agenda concerns title theft and deed fraud. At the conclusion of the regular session, the Governor vetoed Senate Bill No. 648. The bill aimed to require additional documentation when a person recording a property instrument is not an attorney, title agent, title company, or escrow company.
If the individual does not meet those criteria, the bill would have required that:
- The grantor must sign the instrument;
- Both the grantor and grantee must acknowledge it in the presence of two witnesses; and
- All parties involved must appear before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments and oaths.
In the final memo for the regular session, the veto of SB 648 was questioned. Perhaps the strongest acknowledgment of the veto being a mistake was the introduction of a replacement bill during the first special session. SB15, still sponsored by Democratic Senator Royce West, passed the Senate – even while Senator West was in Boston supporting the House Democrats who had broken quorum.
For this second special session, the third iteration of the same deed fraud bill, SB16, is expected to once again pass and, this time, be signed by the Governor.
