H.B. No. 962

	AN ACT
	relating to rules regarding return of service.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 17, Civil Practice and
	Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 17.030 to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 17.030.  RETURN OF SERVICE. (a) The supreme court
	shall adopt rules of civil procedure requiring a person who serves
	process to complete a return of service.
	(b)  The rules:
	(1)  must provide that the return of service:
	(A)  is not required to be endorsed or attached to
	the original process issued; and
	(B)  may be electronically filed; and
	(2)  may require that the following information be
	included in the return of service:
	(A)  the cause number and case name;
	(B)  the court in which the case has been filed;
	(C)  the date and time process was received for
	service;
	(D)  the person or entity served;
	(E)  the address served;
	(F)  the date of service;
	(G)  the manner of delivery of service;
	(H)  a description of process served;
	(I)  the name of the person serving process; and
	(J)  if the process server is certified as a
	process server by the supreme court, the process server's
	identification number.
	(c)  A person certified by the supreme court as a process
	server or a person authorized outside of Texas to serve process
	shall sign the return of service under penalty of perjury. The
	return of service is not required to be verified.
	(d)  A person who knowingly or intentionally falsifies a
	return of service may be prosecuted for tampering with a
	governmental record as provided by Chapter 37, Penal Code.
	SECTION 2.  Section 17.065(b), Civil Practice and Remedies
	Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(b)  The return of service under this section [shall be
	endorsed on or attached to the original process issued and] must:
	(1)  state when it was served;
	(2)  state on whom it was served; and
	(3)  be signed under penalty of perjury [and sworn to]
	by the party making the service [before a person authorized by law
	to make an affidavit under   his hand and seal].
	SECTION 3.  Section 17.030, Civil Practice and Remedies
	Code, as added by this Act, and Section 17.065, Civil Practice and
	Remedies Code, as amended by this Act, apply to all process served
	on or after January 1, 2012, without regard to whether the process
	was issued before, on, or after that date.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2012.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 962 was passed by the House on April
	14, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 962 was passed by the Senate on May
	19, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor