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.