73R6140 RWS-D
By Kamel H.B. No. 407
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 407:
By Zbranek C.S.H.B. No. 407
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to county regulation of roadside vendors.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2.3015, County Road and Bridge Act
1-5 (Article 6702-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
1-6 as follows:
1-7 Sec. 2.3015. REGULATION OF ROADSIDE VENDORS IN <POPULOUS>
1-8 COUNTIES. (a) To promote the public safety, the commissioners
1-9 court of a county with a population of 125,000 or more <than 1.4
1-10 million>, according to the most recent federal census, by order may
1-11 regulate:
1-12 (1) the extent to which a vendor of food or
1-13 merchandise of any kind may:
1-14 (A) sell the items on a public highway or road
1-15 in the unincorporated area of the county or in the right of way of
1-16 the highway or road; and
1-17 (B) erect, maintain, or place a structure on the
1-18 highway or road or in the right of way; and
1-19 (2) the extent to which a person may solicit funds on
1-20 a public highway or road in the unincorporated area of the county
1-21 or in the right of way of the highway or road.
1-22 (b) As part of the regulations, the commissioners court may:
1-23 (1) require a vendor or a person soliciting funds to
1-24 obtain a permit to sell the food or merchandise or to solicit the
2-1 funds;
2-2 (2) charge a reasonable fee for the permit; and
2-3 (3) provide for the removal of any structure that is
2-4 on a public highway or road or in a right of way of a public
2-5 highway or road in violation of the regulations.
2-6 (c) If a regulation adopted under this section conflicts
2-7 with a statute or a state agency rule, the statute or rule prevails
2-8 to the extent of the conflict.
2-9 (d) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
2-10 or knowingly violates a regulation adopted under this section or
2-11 obstructs or threatens to obstruct the removal of a structure that
2-12 is on a public highway or road or in the right of way of a public
2-13 highway or road in violation of a regulation adopted under this
2-14 section. Each day a violation continues constitutes a separate
2-15 offense. An offense under this subsection is a Class C
2-16 misdemeanor.
2-17 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-23 passage, and it is so enacted.