By Thompson H.B. No. 2097
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2097:
By Thompson C.S.H.B. No. 2097
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the power of a municipality to abate certain nuisances
1-3 that are dangerous to the public health or safety; creating a civil
1-4 penalty.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 214.001(o), Local Government Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (o) If the notice is given and the opportunity to relocate
1-9 the tenants of the building or to repair, remove, or demolish the
1-10 building is afforded to each mortgagee and lienholder as authorized
1-11 by Subsection (d) or (e), the lien is a privileged lien subordinate
1-12 only to tax liens and all previously recorded bona fide mortgage
1-13 liens attached to the real property to which the municipality's
1-14 lien attaches.
1-15 SECTION 2. Section 214.0015, Local Government Code, is
1-16 amended by adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:
1-17 (j) The municipality may assess and recover a civil penalty
1-18 against a property owner at the time of an administrative hearing
1-19 on violations of an ordinance, in an amount not to exceed $1,000 a
1-20 day for each violation or, if the owner shows that the property is
1-21 the owner's lawful homestead, in an amount not to exceed $10 a day
1-22 for each violation, if the municipality proves:
1-23 (1) the property owner was notified of the
1-24 requirements of the ordinance and the owner's need to comply with
2-1 the requirements; and
2-2 (2) after notification, the property owner committed
2-3 an act in violation of the ordinance or failed to take an action
2-4 necessary for compliance with the ordinance.
2-5 (k) An assessment of a civil penalty under Subsection (j) is
2-6 final and binding and constitutes prima facie evidence of the
2-7 penalty in any suit brought by a municipality in a court of
2-8 competent jurisdiction for a final judgment in accordance with the
2-9 assessed penalty.
2-10 (l) To enforce a civil penalty under this subchapter, the
2-11 clerk or secretary of the municipality must file with the district
2-12 clerk of the county in which the municipality is located a
2-13 certified copy of an order issued under Subsection (j) stating the
2-14 amount and duration of the penalty. No other proof is required for
2-15 a district court to enter a final judgment on the penalty.
2-16 SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 342, Health and Safety
2-17 Code, is amended by adding Section 342.008 to read as follows:
2-18 Sec. 342.008. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY TO ABATE DANGEROUS WEEDS.
2-19 (a) A municipality may abate, without notice, weeds that:
2-20 (1) have grown higher than 48 inches; and
2-21 (2) are an immediate danger to the health, life, or
2-22 safety of any person.
2-23 (b) Not later than the 10th day after the date the
2-24 municipality abates weeds under this subsection, the municipality
2-25 shall give notice to the property owner in the manner required by
2-26 Section 342.006.
2-27 (c) The notice shall contain:
3-1 (1) an identification, which is not required to be a
3-2 legal description, of the property;
3-3 (2) a description of the violations of the ordinance
3-4 that occurred on the property;
3-5 (3) a statement that the municipality abated the
3-6 weeds; and
3-7 (4) an explanation of the property owner's right to
3-8 request an administrative hearing about the municipality's
3-9 abatement of the weeds.
3-10 (d) The municipality shall conduct an administrative hearing
3-11 on the abatement of weeds under this subsection if, not later than
3-12 the 30th day after the date of the abatement of the weeds, the
3-13 property owner files with the municipality a written request for a
3-14 hearing.
3-15 (e) An administrative hearing conducted under this section
3-16 shall be conducted not later than the 20th day after the date a
3-17 request for a hearing is filed. The owner may testify or present
3-18 any witnesses or written information relating to the municipality's
3-19 abatement of the weeds.
3-20 (f) A municipality may assess expenses and create liens
3-21 under this section as it assesses expenses and creates liens under
3-22 Section 342.007. A lien created under this section is subject to
3-23 the same conditions as a lien created under Section 342.007.
3-24 (g) The authority granted a municipality by this section is
3-25 in addition to the authority granted by Section 342.006.
3-26 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-5 passage, and it is so enacted.