By Tallas                                             H.B. No. 1722
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the sale of goods on certain public highways or
    1-3  rights-of-way; providing penalties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 1, Title 116, Revised Statutes, is
    1-6  amended by adding Article 6673l to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 6673l.  ENCROACHMENT ON STATE HIGHWAY RIGHTS-OF-WAY
    1-8        Sec. 1.  PURPOSE.  The legislature finds that the
    1-9  encroachment on highways and rights-of-way of the state highway
   1-10  system by unauthorized structures and vehicles and by road-side
   1-11  vendors provides a public subsidy of private business, thereby
   1-12  impairing free enterprise; allows for the circumvention of payment
   1-13  of sales tax, resulting in loss of tax revenue and an unfair
   1-14  competitive advantage; impairs the safety, health and welfare of
   1-15  the users of those highways and of the persons who engage in those
   1-16  activities; and thereby constitutes a public nuisance.  It is
   1-17  therefore the intent of the legislature that this article be
   1-18  applied to regulate and restrict all such activities on the state
   1-19  highway system to mitigate or prevent that impairment to the
   1-20  greatest extent possible.
   1-21        Sec. 2.  DEFINITIONS.  In this article:
   1-22              (1)  "Commission" means Texas Transportation
   1-23  Commission.
    2-1              (2)  "Department" means the Texas Department of
    2-2  Transportation.
    2-3              (3)  "Highway" means any road, bridge, or highway
    2-4  designated as a part of the state highway system.
    2-5              (4)  "Person" includes individual, corporation,
    2-6  organization, business trust, estate, trust, partnership,
    2-7  association, and any other legal entity.
    2-8              (5)  "Right-of-way" means the entire width of land
    2-9  between the public boundaries or property lines of a highway.
   2-10        Sec. 3.  ENCROACHMENT.  (a)  A person may not place,
   2-11  construct, or maintain a vehicle or structure on the right-of-way
   2-12  of a highway for the sale of the vehicle or structure or the sale
   2-13  of an item or service from the vehicle or structure.
   2-14        (b)  Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to:
   2-15              (1)  the placement, construction, or maintenance of a
   2-16  structure under other statutory authority;
   2-17              (2)  an activity authorized by a right-of-way lease
   2-18  under the Chapter 757, Acts of the 70th Legislature, Regular
   2-19  Session, 1987 (Article 6673a-3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
   2-20              (3)  the sale of an agriculture commodity on the
   2-21  right-of-way of a highway, other than a controlled access highway,
   2-22  if that commodity was grown or produced on the property adjacent to
   2-23  the right-of-way; or
   2-24              (4)  any other activity authorized by law.
   2-25        Sec. 4.  REMOVAL.  The department may, without prior notice
    3-1  to the owner of a structure that is in violation of Section 3 of
    3-2  this article, remove the structure, and the owner is liable to the
    3-3  department for the costs of removal.
    3-4        Sec. 5.  RULES.  (a)  The commission may adopt rules for the
    3-5  implementation of this article, including rules relating to:
    3-6              (1)  the procedure for removal of a structure under
    3-7  Section 4 of this article;
    3-8              (2)  the time, manner and place for an activity
    3-9  permitted under Section 3(b) of this article of this article.
   3-10        Sec. 6.  DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.  Removal costs received by the
   3-11  department under this article shall be deposited in the treasury to
   3-12  the credit of the state highway fund.
   3-13        Sec. 7.  PENALTIES.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the
   3-14  person violates Section 3 of this article.  An offense under this
   3-15  section is a Class C misdemeanor.
   3-16        (b)  Each day that a violation of Section 3 of this article
   3-17  occurs is a separate offense.
   3-18        Sec. 8.  SEPARATE STATUTORY RESTRICTIONS.  If an activity
   3-19  regulated under this article is prohibited or is subject to greater
   3-20  restriction under other statutory authority, the other authority
   3-21  prevails.
   3-22        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   3-23        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-25  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    4-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read in each house be
    4-2  suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.