By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1064
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to a municipality's remedies when vacant buildings are
1-2 left open and unsecured.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. The legislature finds that it is a danger to the
1-5 public health, safety, and welfare for a building located in a
1-6 metropolitan area to remain open, vacant, and unsecured because
1-7 such buildings often serve as harborage for criminal activity,
1-8 illegal dumping, and rats and other vermin and constitute a
1-9 recurring problem for urban communities.
1-10 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 214.0015, Local
1-11 Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-12 (b) In addition to the authority granted to the municipality
1-13 by Section 214.001, after the expiration of the time allotted under
1-14 Section 214.001(c) or (d) for the repair, securing, removal, or
1-15 demolition of a building, the municipality may:
1-16 (1) repair the building at the expense of the
1-17 municipality and assess the expenses against <on> the land on which
1-18 the building stands or to which it is attached and may provide for
1-19 that assessment, the mode and manner of giving notice, and the
1-20 means of recovering the repair expenses; <or>
1-21 (2) demolish the building, regardless of its
1-22 structural integrity, if it is determined pursuant to a public
1-23 hearing held in accordance with Section 214.001 that the building
2-1 is not in compliance with an order to secure the building issued in
2-2 a prior public hearing held pursuant to Section 214.001 and assess
2-3 the demolition expenses against the land on which the building
2-4 stood or was attached; or
2-5 (3) assess a civil penalty against the property owner
2-6 for failure to repair, remove, secure, or demolish the building and
2-7 provide for that assessment, the mode and manner of giving notice,
2-8 and the means of recovering the assessment.
2-9 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.