1-1     By:  Garcia (Senate Sponsor - Carona)                 H.B. No. 2666

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 13, 1997, reported favorably by

 1-5     the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 13, 1997, sent to

 1-6     printer.)

 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-8                                   AN ACT

 1-9     relating to enforcement of certain public health and safety

1-10     ordinances by a municipality.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 54.032, Local Government Code, is amended

1-13     to read as follows:

1-14           Sec. 54.032.  ORDINANCES SUBJECT TO QUASI-JUDICIAL

1-15     ENFORCEMENT.  This subchapter applies only to ordinances:

1-16                 (1)  for the preservation of public safety, relating to

1-17     the materials or methods used to construct a building or

1-18     improvement, including the foundation, structural elements,

1-19     electrical wiring or apparatus, plumbing and fixtures, entrances,

1-20     or exits;

1-21                 (2)  relating to the fire safety of a building or

1-22     improvement, including provisions relating to materials, types of

1-23     construction or design, warning devices, sprinklers or other fire

1-24     suppression devices, availability of water supply for extinguishing

1-25     fires, or location, design, or width of entrances or exits;

1-26                 (3)  relating to dangerously damaged or deteriorated

1-27     buildings or improvements; [or]

1-28                 (4)  relating to conditions caused by accumulations of

1-29     refuse, vegetation, or other matter that creates breeding and

1-30     living places for insects and rodents; or

1-31                 (5)  relating to a building code or to the condition,

1-32     use, or appearance of property in a municipality.

1-33           SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Local Government Code,

1-34     is amended by adding Section 54.043 to read as follows:

1-35           Sec. 54.043.  ALTERNATIVE ADJUDICATION PROCESSES.  A

1-36     municipality by ordinance may adopt a civil adjudication process,

1-37     as an alternative to the enforcement process prescribed by the

1-38     other provisions of this subchapter, for the enforcement of

1-39     ordinances described by Section 54.032.  The alternative process

1-40     must contain provisions relating to notice, the conduct of

1-41     proceedings, permissible orders,  penalties, and judicial review

1-42     that are similar to the provisions of this subchapter.

1-43           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-44     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-45     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-46     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-47     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-48     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-49     passage, and it is so enacted.

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