1-1     By:  Puente (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)               H.B. No. 247
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by
 1-5     the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to
 1-6     printer.)
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to the use of neighborhood associations in the enforcement
1-10     of certain municipal health and safety ordinances.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Local Government Code,
1-13     is amended by adding Section 54.020 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 54.020.  USE OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS IN ENFORCEMENT
1-15     OF CERTAIN ORDINANCES.  (a)  In this section, "neighborhood
1-16     association" means an association that is dedicated to the
1-17     improvement or upkeep of a defined residential area and that is
1-18     registered by the municipality.
1-19           (b)  A municipality may institute a program to use volunteers
1-20     from a neighborhood association to help enforce certain municipal
1-21     health and safety ordinances in the association's neighborhood.
1-22     The health and safety ordinances included in the program may only
1-23     be those for which a violation can be observed without entering the
1-24     property at which the violation occurs and may not include any
1-25     health or safety ordinance that relates to the National Electrical
1-26     Safety Code (NESC) or to the operations of a utility.
1-27           (c)  The municipality shall establish a training program for
1-28     the volunteers.  The training must include instruction on:
1-29                 (1)  which ordinances are covered by the volunteer
1-30     enforcement program; and
1-31                 (2)  whether and how a volunteer should inform a
1-32     property owner or resident of an alleged violation.
1-33           (d)  A person trained under Subsection (c) who observes a
1-34     suspected violation of an ordinance covered by the program may
1-35     inform:
1-36                 (1)  the owner of, or a person residing on, the
1-37     property at which the alleged violation occurs; or
1-38                 (2)  the appropriate agency of the municipality.
1-39           (e)  A person trained under Subsection (c):
1-40                 (1)  is not a peace officer;
1-41                 (2)  has no authority other than the authority
1-42     applicable to a citizen to enforce a law other than this section;
1-43     and
1-44                 (3)  may not carry a weapon while performing activities
1-45     under this section.
1-46           (f)  A municipality by ordinance may provide that the notice
1-47     of violation served on the owner or a person residing on the
1-48     property under Subsection (d) is considered the first warning of a
1-49     violation of a municipal ordinance.
1-50           (g)  A person trained under Subsection (c) is not entitled
1-51     to:
1-52                 (1)  compensation for performing activities under this
1-53     section; or
1-54                 (2)  indemnification from the municipality or the state
1-55     for:
1-56                       (A)  injury or property damage the person
1-57     sustains in performing duties under this section; or
1-58                       (B)  liability the person incurs in performing
1-59     duties under this section.
1-60           (h)  The municipality and the state are not liable for any
1-61     damage arising from an act or omission of a person trained under
1-62     Subsection (c) in performing activities under this section.
1-63           (i)  A person trained under Subsection (c) who under this
1-64     section makes more than one complaint to the municipality of a
 2-1     violation of an ordinance against the same owner of property is
 2-2     liable to the owner if a court determines the person acted in bad
 2-3     faith in making the complaints.
 2-4           (j)  For purposes of Subsection (i):
 2-5                 (1)  liability is limited to all attorney's fees and
 2-6     reasonable costs  incurred by the owner in establishing to the
 2-7     satisfaction of the municipality that no violation occurred; and
 2-8                 (2)  it is a rebuttable presumption that the person
 2-9     acted in bad faith if the municipality has found three or more
2-10     complaints brought by the person during a six-month period to be
2-11     invalid.
2-12           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.
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