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.
1-50 * * * * *