By Bosse H.B. No. 277
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to creation of an offense for parking a commercial motor
1-3 vehicle overnight in certain residential subdivisions.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article XII, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-6 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-7 by adding Section 96A to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 96A. OVERNIGHT PARKING OF COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE IN
1-9 RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION. (a) In this section:
1-10 (1) "Commercial motor vehicle" has the meaning
1-11 assigned by the Texas Commercial Driver's License Act (Article
1-12 6687b-2, Revised Statutes), and includes a vehicle meeting that
1-13 definition regardless of whether the vehicle is used for a
1-14 commercial purpose.
1-15 (2) "Residential subdivision" means a subdivision:
1-16 (A) for which a plat is recorded in the county
1-17 real property records; and
1-18 (B) in which the majority of lots are subject to
1-19 deed restrictions limiting the lots to residential use.
1-20 (b) After 10 p.m. and before 6 a.m., a person may not park a
1-21 commercial motor vehicle on a street of a residential subdivision
1-22 for which signs are posted as provided by Subsection (c) of this
1-23 section unless the commercial motor vehicle:
1-24 (1) is transporting persons or property to or from the
2-1 residential subdivision or performing work in the subdivision; and
2-2 (2) remains parked in the subdivision only for the
2-3 period necessary to complete the transportation or work.
2-4 (c) The residents of a residential subdivision may petition
2-5 a county or municipality in which the subdivision is located for
2-6 the posting of signs prohibiting the overnight parking of a
2-7 commercial motor vehicle in the subdivision. The petition must be
2-8 signed by at least 25 percent of the owners or tenants of
2-9 residences in the subdivision. Not more than one person per
2-10 residential lot may sign the petition, and each person signing must
2-11 be at least 18 years of age. Promptly after the filing of a
2-12 petition meeting the requirements of this subsection and subject to
2-13 Subsection (d) of this section, the county or municipality
2-14 receiving the petition shall post the signs. The signs must:
2-15 (1) be posted at each entrance of the subdivision
2-16 through which a commercial motor vehicle may enter the subdivision;
2-17 and
2-18 (2) state, in letters at least two inches in height,
2-19 that overnight parking of a commercial motor vehicle is prohibited
2-20 in the subdivision.
2-21 (d) A county or municipality receiving a petition under
2-22 Subsection (c) of this section may condition the posting of the
2-23 signs on payment by the residents of the residential subdivision of
2-24 the cost of providing the signs.
2-25 (e) A person parking a commercial motor vehicle in violation
2-26 of Subsection (b) of this section commits an offense.
2-27 (f) This section does not limit the power of a municipality
3-1 to regulate the parking of commercial motor vehicles.
3-2 (g) For the purposes of this section, contiguous
3-3 subdivisions that are developed by the same entity or a successor
3-4 to that entity and that are given the same public name or a
3-5 variation of the same public name are considered one subdivision.
3-6 Separation of one of the subdivisions from another by a road,
3-7 stream, greenbelt, or similar barrier does not make the
3-8 subdivisions noncontiguous.
3-9 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-10 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.