By Puente H.B. No. 1138
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the use of neighborhood associations in the enforcement
1-3 of certain municipal health and safety ordinances.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Local Government Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 54.020 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 54.020. USE OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS IN ENFORCEMENT
1-8 OF CERTAIN ORDINANCES. (a) In this section, "neighborhood
1-9 association" means an association that is dedicated to the
1-10 improvement or upkeep of a defined residential area and that is
1-11 registered by the municipality.
1-12 (b) A municipality may institute a program to use volunteers
1-13 from a neighborhood association to help enforce certain municipal
1-14 ordinances that concern health and safety in the association's
1-15 neighborhood. The health and safety ordinances included in the
1-16 program may only be those for which a violation can be observed
1-17 without entering the property at which the violation occurs.
1-18 (c) The municipality shall establish a training program for
1-19 the volunteers. The training must include instruction on:
1-20 (1) which ordinances are covered by the volunteer
1-21 enforcement program; and
1-22 (2) whether and how a volunteer should inform a
1-23 property owner or resident of an alleged violation.
1-24 (d) A person trained under Subsection (c) who observes a
2-1 suspected violation of an ordinance covered by the program may
2-2 inform:
2-3 (1) the owner of, or a person residing on, the
2-4 property at which the alleged violation occurs; or
2-5 (2) the appropriate agency of the municipality.
2-6 (e) A person trained under Subsection (c):
2-7 (1) is not a peace officer;
2-8 (2) has no authority other than the authority
2-9 applicable to a citizen to enforce a law other than this section;
2-10 and
2-11 (3) may not carry a weapon while performing activities
2-12 under this section.
2-13 (f) A municipality by ordinance may provide that the notice
2-14 of violation served on the owner or a person residing on the
2-15 property under Subsection (d) is considered the first warning of a
2-16 violation of a municipal ordinance.
2-17 (g) A person trained under Subsection (c) is not entitled
2-18 to:
2-19 (1) compensation for performing activities under this
2-20 section; or
2-21 (2) indemnification from the municipality or the state
2-22 for:
2-23 (A) injury or property damage the person
2-24 sustains in performing duties under this section; or
2-25 (B) liability the person incurs in performing
2-26 duties under this section.
2-27 (h) The municipality and the state are not liable for any
3-1 damage arising from an act or omission of a person trained under
3-2 Subsection (c) in performing activities under this section.
3-3 (i) If a volunteer from a neighborhood association makes
3-4 multiple complaints to a city against the same landowner, asserting
3-5 in bad faith that the landowner has violated city ordinances, the
3-6 volunteer shall be liable to the landowner for all attorney's fees
3-7 and other reasonable costs incurred by the landowner in
3-8 establishing to the city's satisfaction that no violation occurred.
3-9 For purposes of this subsection, there shall be a rebuttable
3-10 presumption of bad faith if, on three or more occasions within a
3-11 period of six months, the volunteer's complaints have been
3-12 determined by the city to be invalid.
3-13 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-19 passage, and it is so enacted.