By Dutton                                              H.B. No. 825
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a municipality to correct certain
    1-3  violations of municipal sanitation regulations.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
    1-7        (c)  The municipality in the notice of a violation may inform
    1-8  the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, that if the
    1-9  owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that
   1-10  poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the
   1-11  first anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality
   1-12  without further notice may correct the violation at the owner's
   1-13  expense and assess the expense against the property.  If a
   1-14  violation covered by a notice under this subsection occurs within
   1-15  the one-year period, the municipality shall confirm that the
   1-16  ownership of the property has not changed since the original notice
   1-17  was mailed before taking any action without notice permitted by
   1-18  Subsections (a)(1) and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by
   1-19  Section 342.007.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 342.007, Health and
   1-21  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-22        (b)  To obtain a lien against the property, the mayor,
   1-23  municipal health authority, or municipal official designated by the
   1-24  mayor must file a statement of expenses with the county clerk of
    2-1  the county in which the municipality is located.  The lien
    2-2  statement must state the name of the owner, if known, and the legal
    2-3  description of the property.  The lien attaches upon the filing of
    2-4  the lien statement with the county clerk.
    2-5        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-10  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-11  passage, and it is so enacted.