1-1  By:  Hochberg (Senate Sponsor - West)                 H.B. No. 2042
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1995;
    1-3  May 11, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Jurisprudence; May 16, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 16, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to civil remedies for certain nuisances.
    1-9        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-10        SECTION 1.  Section 125.041, Civil Practice and Remedies
   1-11  Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-12        Sec. 125.041.  DEFINITIONS <PUBLIC NUISANCE>.  In this
   1-13  subchapter:
   1-14              (1)  "Common nuisance" is a nuisance described by
   1-15  Section 125.001.
   1-16              (2)  "Public nuisance" is a nuisance described by
   1-17  Section 125.021.
   1-18              (3)  "Multiunit residential property" means improved
   1-19  real property with at least three dwelling units, including an
   1-20  apartment building or condominium.  The term does not include:
   1-21                    (A)  a property in which each dwelling unit is
   1-22  occupied by the owner of the property; or
   1-23                    (B)  a single-family home or duplex. <For the
   1-24  purposes of this subchapter, a public nuisance is considered to
   1-25  exist at a place if one or more of the following acts occurs at
   1-26  that place on a regular basis:>
   1-27              <(1)  gambling, gambling promotion, or communication of
   1-28  gambling information, as prohibited by Chapter 47, Penal Code;>
   1-29              <(2)  promotion or aggravated promotion of
   1-30  prostitution, as prohibited by Chapter 43, Penal Code;>
   1-31              <(3)  compelling prostitution, as prohibited by Chapter
   1-32  43, Penal Code;>
   1-33              <(4)  commercial manufacture, commercial distribution,
   1-34  or commercial exhibition of material that is obscene, as defined by
   1-35  Section 43.21, Penal Code;>
   1-36              <(5)  commercial exhibition of a live dance or other
   1-37  act in which a person engages in real or simulated sexual
   1-38  intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse, as defined by Section
   1-39  43.01, Penal Code;>
   1-40              <(6)  reckless discharge of a firearm as described by
   1-41  Section 42.015, Penal Code; or>
   1-42              <(6)  engaging in organized criminal activity as a
   1-43  member of a combination or as a member of a criminal street gang as
   1-44  described by Section 71.02, Penal Code; or>
   1-45              <(7)  manufacture, delivery, or use of a controlled
   1-46  substance in violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.>
   1-47        SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 125, Civil Practice and
   1-48  Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 125.046 to read as
   1-49  follows:
   1-50        Sec. 125.046.  ADDITIONAL REMEDIES; RECEIVER.  (a)  If, in
   1-51  any judicial proceeding under Subchapter A or B, a court determines
   1-52  that a person is maintaining a multiunit residential property that
   1-53  is a common nuisance or a multiunit residential property at which a
   1-54  public nuisance exists, the court may, on its own motion or on the
   1-55  motion of any party, order the appointment of a receiver to manage
   1-56  the property or render  any other order allowed by law as necessary
   1-57  to abate the nuisance.
   1-58        (b)  A receiver appointed under this section may not be
   1-59  appointed for a period longer than one year.
   1-60        (c)  The court shall determine the management duties of the
   1-61  receiver, the amount to be paid the receiver, the method of
   1-62  payment, and the payment periods.
   1-63        (d)  A receiver appointed under this section shall continue
   1-64  to manage the  property during the pendency of any appeal relating
   1-65  to the nuisance or the appointment of the receiver.
   1-66        SECTION 3.  This Act applies to a common or public nuisance
   1-67  in existence on or after the effective date of this Act, without
   1-68  regard to whether the nuisance began before, on, or after that
    2-1  date.
    2-2        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-7  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-8  passage, and it is so enacted.
    2-9                               * * * * *