1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirements for notice of violations of certain
1-3 municipal ordinances.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 342.006. WORK OR IMPROVEMENTS BY MUNICIPALITY; NOTICE.
1-8 (a) If the owner of property in the municipality does not comply
1-9 with a municipal ordinance or requirement under this chapter within
1-10 seven [10] days of notice of a violation, the municipality may:
1-11 (1) do the work or make the improvements required; and
1-12 (2) pay for the work done or improvements made and
1-13 charge the expenses to the owner of the property.
1-14 (b) The notice must be given:
1-15 (1) personally to the owner in writing;
1-16 (2) by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
1-17 [post office] address as recorded in the appraisal district records
1-18 of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
1-19 (3) if personal service cannot be obtained [or the
1-20 owner's post office address is unknown]:
1-21 (A) by publication at least once [twice within
1-22 10 consecutive days];
1-23 (B) by posting the notice on or near the front
1-24 door of each building on the property to which the violation
2-1 relates; or
2-2 (C) by posting the notice on a placard attached
2-3 to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
2-4 violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
2-5 (c) If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
2-6 accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal
2-7 Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the
2-8 validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is
2-9 considered as delivered.
2-10 (d) In a notice provided under this section, a [The]
2-11 municipality [in the notice of a violation] may inform the owner by
2-12 regular [certified] mail and a posting on the property[, return
2-13 receipt requested,] that if the owner commits another violation of
2-14 the same kind or nature that poses a danger to the public health
2-15 and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of the
2-16 notice, the municipality without further notice may correct the
2-17 violation at the owner's expense and assess the expense against the
2-18 property. If a violation covered by a notice under this subsection
2-19 occurs within the one-year period, and the municipality has not
2-20 been informed in writing by the owner of an ownership change, then
2-21 the municipality without notice may take any action permitted by
2-22 Subsections (a)(1) and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by
2-23 Section 342.007.
2-24 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
2-26 notice of a violation of a municipal ordinance or requirement under
2-27 Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, that is given on or after
3-1 the effective date of this Act. A notice that is given before the
3-2 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
3-3 immediately before the effective date, and that law is continued in
3-4 effect for the purpose of enforcing the ordinance or requirement.
3-5 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1110 was passed by the House on March
25, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 1110 on May 12, 1999, by a non-record
vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1110 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 10, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor