By Bosse H.B. No. 327
75R2146 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to creation of an offense for parking a commercial motor
1-3 vehicle overnight in certain residential subdivisions.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 545, Transportation Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 545.307 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 545.307. OVERNIGHT PARKING OF COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE
1-8 IN RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION. (a) In this section:
1-9 (1) "Commercial motor vehicle" has the meaning
1-10 assigned by Section 522.003 and includes a vehicle meeting that
1-11 definition regardless of whether the vehicle is used for a
1-12 commercial purpose.
1-13 (2) "Residential subdivision" means a subdivision:
1-14 (A) for which a plat is recorded in the county
1-15 real property records; and
1-16 (B) in which the majority of lots are subject to
1-17 deed restrictions limiting the lots to residential use.
1-18 (b) After 10 p.m. and before 6 a.m., a person may not park a
1-19 commercial motor vehicle or leave the vehicle parked on a street of
1-20 a residential subdivision for which signs are posted as provided by
1-21 Subsection (c) unless the commercial motor vehicle:
1-22 (1) is transporting persons or property to or from the
1-23 residential subdivision or performing work in the subdivision; and
1-24 (2) remains parked in the subdivision only for the
2-1 period necessary to complete the transportation or work.
2-2 (c) The residents of a residential subdivision may petition
2-3 a county or municipality in which the subdivision is located for
2-4 the posting of signs prohibiting the overnight parking of a
2-5 commercial motor vehicle in the subdivision. The petition must be
2-6 signed by at least 25 percent of the owners or tenants of
2-7 residences in the subdivision. Not more than one person for each
2-8 residential lot may sign the petition, and each person signing must
2-9 be at least 18 years of age. Promptly after the filing of a
2-10 petition meeting the requirements of this subsection and subject to
2-11 Subsection (d), the county or municipality receiving the petition
2-12 shall post the signs. The signs must:
2-13 (1) be posted at each entrance of the subdivision
2-14 through which a commercial motor vehicle may enter the subdivision;
2-15 and
2-16 (2) state, in letters at least two inches in height,
2-17 that overnight parking of a commercial motor vehicle is prohibited
2-18 in the subdivision.
2-19 (d) A county or municipality receiving a petition under
2-20 Subsection (c) may condition the posting of the signs on payment by
2-21 the residents of the residential subdivision of the cost of
2-22 providing the signs.
2-23 (e) A person commits an offense if the person parks a
2-24 commercial motor vehicle in violation of Subsection (b).
2-25 (f) This section does not limit the power of a municipality
2-26 to regulate the parking of commercial motor vehicles.
2-27 (g) For the purposes of this section, contiguous
3-1 subdivisions that are developed by the same entity or a successor
3-2 to that entity and that are given the same public name or a
3-3 variation of the same public name are considered one subdivision.
3-4 Separation of one of the subdivisions from another by a road,
3-5 stream, greenbelt, or similar barrier does not make the
3-6 subdivisions noncontiguous.
3-7 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-13 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
3-14 Amend HB 327 on page 1, line 13, Section 545.307(2) by adding the
3-15 following language between the second use of the word "subdivision"
3-16 and the colon: ". . . in a county with a population greater than
3-17 500,000 people"
3-18 Finnell