74R11827 PAM-D
          By Yarbrough                                           H.B. No. 446
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 446:
          By Wohlgemuth                                      C.S.H.B. No. 446
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of certain counties to regulate noise
    1-3  levels; providing penalties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 240, Local Government Code,
    1-6  is amended by adding Section 240.906 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 240.906.  REGULATION OF NOISE LEVELS BY POPULOUS
    1-8  COUNTIES.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), the
    1-9  commissioners court of a county with a population of 100,000 or
   1-10  more by order may regulate the level of noise emanating from a
   1-11  public or private place located in an unincorporated area of the
   1-12  county.
   1-13        (b)  The commissioners court may not adopt an order that:
   1-14              (1)  imposes or permits the imposition of a limit of 85
   1-15  decibels or less; or
   1-16              (2)  regulates the level of noise emanating from:
   1-17                    (A)  an airport;
   1-18                    (B)  an agricultural operation as defined by
   1-19  Section 251.002, Agriculture Code; or
   1-20                    (C)  a business regulated by the Railroad
   1-21  Commission of Texas, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, or the
   1-22  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
   1-23        (c)  A person shall immediately abate the violation of an
   1-24  order adopted under this section if the person has possession or
    2-1  control of the property and knowledge of the violation.
    2-2        (d)  Any person is entitled to injunctive relief to prevent a
    2-3  violation or threatened violation of an order adopted under this
    2-4  section.  The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and
    2-5  court costs to a person who is granted an injunction under this
    2-6  section.
    2-7        (e)  A person who violates an order adopted under this
    2-8  section is liable to the county for a civil penalty of not less
    2-9  than $50 or more than $1,000 for each violation and for each day of
   2-10  a continuing violation.  A penalty paid under this subsection shall
   2-11  be deposited in the general fund of the county.
   2-12        (f)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or
   2-13  intentionally violates an order adopted under this section.  An
   2-14  offense under this subsection is a Class C misdemeanor.
   2-15        (g)  If an order adopted under this section conflicts with a
   2-16  municipal ordinance, the municipal ordinance prevails within the
   2-17  municipality's jurisdiction to the extent of the conflict.
   2-18        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-24  passage, and it is so enacted.