By Bosse                                              H.B. No. 1852
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the control of outdoor advertising signs; providing
    1-3  penalties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 4.03, Chapter 741, Acts of the 67th
    1-6  Legislature, Regular Session, 1981 (Article 4477-9a, Vernon's Texas
    1-7  Civil Statutes) is amended by adding subsections (h) and (i) to
    1-8  read as follows:
    1-9        (h)(1)  The legislature declares that signs erected and
   1-10  maintained in violation of this Act endanger the health, safety,
   1-11  welfare, morals, convenience, and enjoyment of the traveling public
   1-12  and the protection of the public investment in the interstate and
   1-13  primary highway systems; and thereby, constitute a public nuisance.
   1-14              (2)  An owner of a sign erected or maintained in
   1-15  violation of this section shall remove the sign upon written
   1-16  notification by certified mail from the Texas Department of
   1-17  Transportation.  If the owner of a sign does not remove the sign
   1-18  within 45 calendar days of the date of the notice, the county or
   1-19  district attorney of the county in which the sign is located shall,
   1-20  upon written request of the commission, initiate injunctive
   1-21  proceedings to enjoin the owner of the sign from maintaining the
   1-22  sign and requiring the effective removal of the sign.  If such
   1-23  county or district attorney fails to take action, the commission
    2-1  may direct the attorney general to initiate injunctive proceedings
    2-2  to effect the removal of the sign.
    2-3              (3)  The owner of a sign removed as a result of
    2-4  injunctive proceedings initiated by the county or the state shall
    2-5  reimburse the county or the state, as the case may be, for all
    2-6  administrative and legal costs and expenses incurred to effect
    2-7  removal of the sign, including, but not limited to, court costs and
    2-8  reasonable attorney fees.
    2-9        (i)  An owner or lessor of a tract of land who allows a
   2-10  person to erect or maintain a sign in violation of this section
   2-11  commits an offense.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  Section 4.12, Chapter 741, Acts of the 67th
   2-13  Legislature, Regular Session, 1981 (Article 4477-9a, Vernon's Texas
   2-14  Civil Statutes) is amended to read as follows:
   2-15        Sec. 4.12.  A person who wilfully commits an offense under
   2-16  this article or wilfully violates any rule adopted by the
   2-17  commission in accordance with this article is, on conviction,
   2-18  subject to a fine of not less than $500 <$25> nor more than $1,000
   2-19  <$200>.  Each day of the wilful offense or violation constitutes a
   2-20  separate offense.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-22  only to the punishment for an offense committed on or after the
   2-23  effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
   2-24  offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
   2-25  element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
    3-1        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    3-2  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    3-3  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
    3-4        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.