By:  Yarbrough                                        H.B. No. 2116
       73R5393 JJT-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the regulation of the hours of operation and noise
    1-3  levels produced by a motor vehicle salvage yard in certain
    1-4  counties; providing a penalty.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Title 116, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
    1-7  Article 6687-2b to read as follows:
    1-8        Art. 6687-2b.  NOISE AND HOURS OF OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE
    1-9  SALVAGE YARD IN POPULOUS COUNTIES.  (a)  A motor vehicle salvage
   1-10  dealer may not operate machinery in a motor vehicle salvage yard
   1-11  that produces a sound at a level of 70 decibels measured at the
   1-12  property line.
   1-13        (b)  A motor vehicle salvage dealer may not operate heavy
   1-14  machinery in a motor vehicle salvage yard between the hours of 7
   1-15  p.m. of one day and 7 a.m. of the following day.
   1-16        (c)  A motor vehicle salvage dealer may not operate heavy
   1-17  machinery in a motor vehicle salvage yard at any time on a Sunday.
   1-18        (d)  This article applies only to a motor vehicle salvage
   1-19  yard located in a county with a population of 2.8 million or more,
   1-20  according to the most recent federal decennial census.
   1-21        (e)  A person who violates this article commits a Class C
   1-22  misdemeanor.
   1-23        (f)  The prosecutor in the county where the salvage yard is
   1-24  located or the city attorney in the municipality where the salvage
    2-1  yard is located may bring suit to enjoin a violation of this
    2-2  article.
    2-3        (g)  In this article, "motor vehicle salvage dealer" has the
    2-4  meaning assigned by Section 1, Chapter 506, Acts of the 57th
    2-5  Legislature, Regular Session, 1961 (Article 6687-2, Vernon's Texas
    2-6  Civil Statutes), and its subsequent amendments.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-8        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.