By:  Bivins                                            S.B. No. 595
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of counties to abate a public nuisance on
    1-2  certain property and assess costs of abatement.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  The heading of Chapter 343, Health and Safety
    1-5  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-6   CHAPTER 343.  ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC NUISANCES <IN CERTAIN COUNTIES>
    1-7        SECTION 2.  Section 343.011, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-8  amended to read as follows:
    1-9        Sec. 343.011.  Public Nuisance IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.
   1-10  (a)  This section applies to the unincorporated area of a county
   1-11  with a population of 125,000 or more.
   1-12        (b)  A person may not cause, permit, or allow a public
   1-13  nuisance under this section on any premises.
   1-14        (c) <(b)>  A public nuisance is:
   1-15              (1)  keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on
   1-16  premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained
   1-17  in a closed receptacle;
   1-18              (2)  keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish,
   1-19  including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves,
   1-20  furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood for 10
   1-21  days or more, unless the rubbish or object is completely enclosed
   1-22  in a building or is not visible from a public street;
   1-23              (3)  maintaining premises in a manner that creates an
   1-24  unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes,
    2-1  rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
    2-2              (4)  allowing weeds to grow on premises in a
    2-3  neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another
    2-4  residence or commercial establishment;
    2-5              (5)  maintaining a building in a manner that is
    2-6  structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or
    2-7  public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary
    2-8  conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or
    2-9  abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
   2-10              (6)  maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property
   2-11  in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
   2-12                    (A)  a fence that is at least four feet high and
   2-13  that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child; or
   2-14                    (B)  a cover over the entire swimming pool that
   2-15  cannot be removed by a child; or
   2-16              (7)  maintaining a flea market in a manner that
   2-17  constitutes a fire hazard.
   2-18        (d) <(c)>  This section does not apply to a site or facility
   2-19  that is permitted and regulated by a state agency.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 343, Health and Safety
   2-21  Code, is amended by adding Section 343.0111 to read as follows:
   2-22        Sec. 343.0111.  PUBLIC NUISANCE GENERALLY APPLICABLE.
   2-23  (a)  This section applies to the unincorporated area of a county,
   2-24  regardless of the population size of the county.
   2-25        (b)  A person may not cause, permit, or allow a public
   2-26  nuisance under this section.
   2-27        (c)  A public nuisance is:
    3-1              (1)  discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual
    3-2  obstruction on:
    3-3                    (A)  county-owned land;
    3-4                    (B)  land or easements owned or held by a special
    3-5  district that has the county commissioners court as its governing
    3-6  body;
    3-7              (2)  discarding refuse on the smaller of:
    3-8                    (A)  the area that spans 20 feet on each side of
    3-9  a utility line; or
   3-10                    (B)  the actual span of the utility easement.
   3-11        SECTION 4.  Subsection (a), Section 343.012, Health and
   3-12  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
   3-13        (a)  A person commits an offense if:
   3-14              (1)  the person violates Section 343.011(b) or
   3-15  343.0111(b) <343.011(a)>; and
   3-16              (2)  the nuisance remains unabated after the 30th day
   3-17  after the date on which the person receives notice from a county
   3-18  official, agent, or employee to abate the nuisance.
   3-19        SECTION 5.  Section 343.022, Health and Safety Code, is
   3-20  amended to read as follows:
   3-21        Sec. 343.022.  Abatement Procedures.  (a)  The abatement
   3-22  procedures adopted by the commissioners court must be administered
   3-23  by a regularly salaried, full-time county employee, but the removal
   3-24  or demolition of the nuisance may be made by a person authorized by
   3-25  the person administering the abatement program.
   3-26        (b)  The abatement procedures must require that written
   3-27  notice be given to:
    4-1              (1)  the owner, lessee, occupant, agent, or person in
    4-2  charge of the premises; and
    4-3              (2)  the person responsible for causing a public
    4-4  nuisance on the premises when:
    4-5                    (A)  that person is not the owner, lessee,
    4-6  occupant, agent, or person in charge of the premises; and
    4-7                    (B)  the person responsible can be identified.
    4-8        (c)  The notice must state:
    4-9              (1)  the specific condition that constitutes a
   4-10  nuisance;
   4-11              (2)  that the person receiving notice shall abate the
   4-12  nuisance before the 31st day after the date on which the notice is
   4-13  served;
   4-14              (3)  that failure to abate the nuisance may result in:
   4-15                    (A)  abatement by the county;
   4-16                    (B)  <,> assessment of costs to the person
   4-17  responsible for causing the nuisance when that person can be
   4-18  identified;<,> and
   4-19                    (C)  a lien against the property on which the
   4-20  nuisance exists, if the person responsible for causing the nuisance
   4-21  has an interest in the property; and
   4-22              (4)  that the person receiving notice <owner, lessee,
   4-23  occupant, agent, or person in charge of the premises> is entitled
   4-24  to submit, before the 31st day after the date on which the notice
   4-25  is served, a written request for a hearing.
   4-26        (d) <(c)>  The notice must be given:
   4-27              (1)  by service in person or by registered or certified
    5-1  mail, return receipt requested; or
    5-2              (2)  if personal service cannot be obtained or the
    5-3  address of the person to be notified <owner, lessee, agent, or
    5-4  person in charge of the property> is unknown, by posting a copy of
    5-5  the notice on the premises on which the nuisance exists and by
    5-6  publishing the notice in a newspaper with general circulation in
    5-7  the county two times within 10 consecutive days.
    5-8        (e) <(d)>  The abatement procedures must require a hearing
    5-9  before the county abates the nuisance if a hearing is requested.
   5-10  The hearing may be conducted before the commissioners court or any
   5-11  board, commission, or official designated by the commissioners
   5-12  court. The commissioners court may designate a board, commission,
   5-13  or official to conduct each hearing.
   5-14        SECTION 6.  Subsections (a), (c), and (d), Section 343.023,
   5-15  Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
   5-16        (a)  A county may:
   5-17              (1)  assess the cost of abating the nuisance, the cost
   5-18  of legal notification by publication, and an administrative fee of
   5-19  not more than $100 on the person receiving notice under Section
   5-20  343.022 <owner, lessee, or occupant of the premises on which the
   5-21  nuisance exists>; or
   5-22              (2)  by resolution or order, assess the cost of abating
   5-23  the nuisance, the cost of legal notification by publication, and an
   5-24  administrative fee of not more than $100 against the property on
   5-25  which the nuisance exists.
   5-26        (c)  To obtain a lien against the property to secure an
   5-27  assessment, the commissioners court of the county must file a
    6-1  notice that contains a statement of costs, a legal description of
    6-2  the property sufficient to identify the property, and the name of
    6-3  the property owner, if known, with the county clerk of the county
    6-4  in which the property is located <and follow any other procedure
    6-5  required by law to secure a lien against the property>.
    6-6        (d)  The county's lien to secure an assessment attaches when
    6-7  the notice of lien is filed and is inferior to a previously
    6-8  recorded bona fide mortgage lien attached to the real property to
    6-9  which the county's lien attaches, if the mortgage was filed for
   6-10  record in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the
   6-11  real property is located before the date on which the county files
   6-12  the notice of lien with the county clerk <begins the abatement>.
   6-13        SECTION 7.  Section 343.001, Health and Safety Code, is
   6-14  repealed.
   6-15        SECTION 8.  The importance of this legislation and the
   6-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   6-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   6-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   6-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.