By Flores H.B. No. 3684 Line and page numbers may not match official copy. Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to gates on third-class neighborhood roads. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 251.010, Transportation Code is amended 1-5 to read: 1-6 (a) A person or a homeowner's association who owns or 1-7 controls real property on which a third-class road or a 1-8 neighborhood road established under Section 251.053 is located for 1-9 which the right-of-way was obtained without cost to the county may 1-10 erect a gate across the road when necessary. The person shall 1-11 place a permanent hitching post and stile block on each side of the 1-12 gate within 60 feet of the gate. The gate must be: 1-13 (1) at least 10 feet wide; 1-14 (2) free of obstructions above the gate; 1-15 (3) constructed so that opening and shutting the gate 1-16 will not cause unnecessary delay to emergency personnel or a person 1-17 using the road; and 1-18 (4) constructed with a fastening to hold the gate open 1-19 until a person using the gate passes through it. 1-20 (b) The property owner or homeowners association shall keep 1-21 the gate and the approaches to the gate in good order. 2-1 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 2-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three consecutive 2-6 days in each house be suspended, and that this Act takes effect and 2-7 be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.