1-1 By: Smith (Senate Sponsor - Ellis) H.B. No. 1110
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 29, 1999;
1-3 March 30, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; April 29, 1999, reported favorably, as
1-5 amended, by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; April 29, 1999,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Madla
1-8 Amend H.B. 1110 by striking SECTION 1 of the bill and
1-9 substituting the following:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (a) If the owner of property in the municipality does not
1-13 comply with a municipal ordinance or requirement under this chapter
1-14 within seven [10] days of notice of a violation, the municipality
1-15 may:
1-16 (1) do the work or make the improvements required; and
1-17 (2) pay for the work done or improvements made and
1-18 charge the expenses to the owner of the property.
1-19 (b) The notice must be given:
1-20 (1) personally to the owner in writing;
1-21 (2) by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
1-22 [post office] address as recorded in the appraisal district records
1-23 of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
1-24 (3) if personal service cannot be obtained [or the
1-25 owner's post office address is unknown]:
1-26 (A) by publication at least once [twice within
1-27 10 consecutive days];
1-28 (B) by posting the notice on or near the front
1-29 door of each building on the property to which the violation
1-30 relates; or
1-31 (C) by posting the notice on a placard attached
1-32 to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
1-33 violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
1-34 (c) If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
1-35 accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal
1-36 Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the
1-37 validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is
1-38 considered as delivered.
1-39 (d) In a notice provided under this section, a [The]
1-40 municipality [in the notice of a violation] may inform the owner by
1-41 regular [certified] mail and a posting on the property[, return
1-42 receipt requested,] that if the owner commits another violation of
1-43 the same kind or nature that poses a danger to the public health
1-44 and safety on or before the first anniversary of the date of the
1-45 notice, the municipality without further notice may correct the
1-46 violation at the owner's expense and assess the expense against the
1-47 property. If a violation covered by a notice under this subsection
1-48 occurs within the one-year period, and the municipality has not
1-49 been informed in writing by the owner of an ownership change, then
1-50 the municipality without notice may take any action permitted by
1-51 Subsections (a)(1) and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by
1-52 Section 342.007.
1-53 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-54 AN ACT
1-55 relating to the requirements for notice of violations of certain
1-56 municipal ordinances.
1-57 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-58 SECTION 1. Sections 342.006(a) and (b), Health and Safety
1-59 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-60 (a) If the owner of property in the municipality does not
1-61 comply with a municipal ordinance or requirement under this chapter
1-62 within seven [10] days of notice of a violation, the municipality
1-63 may:
2-1 (1) do the work or make the improvements required; and
2-2 (2) pay for the work done or improvements made and
2-3 charge the expenses to the owner of the property.
2-4 (b) The notice must be given:
2-5 (1) personally to the owner in writing;
2-6 (2) by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
2-7 post office address; or
2-8 (3) if personal service cannot be obtained or the
2-9 owner's post office address is unknown:
2-10 (A) by publication at least once [twice within
2-11 10 consecutive days];
2-12 (B) by posting the notice on or near the front
2-13 door of each building on the property to which the violation
2-14 relates; or
2-15 (C) by posting the notice on a placard attached
2-16 to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
2-17 violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
2-18 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-19 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
2-20 notice of a violation of a municipal ordinance or requirement under
2-21 Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, that is given on or after
2-22 the effective date of this Act. A notice that is given before the
2-23 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
2-24 immediately before the effective date, and that law is continued in
2-25 effect for the purpose of enforcing the ordinance or requirement.
2-26 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-28 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-29 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-30 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-31 * * * * *