By Lindsay S.B. No. 221
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 221:
By Lewis of Tarrant C.S.S.B. No. 221
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the assessment of costs or fees by a county or
1-3 municipality related to the seizure, acceptance, impoundment, or
1-4 destruction of a dangerous dog.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 822.042(d), Health and Safety Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (d) The owner shall pay any cost or fee assessed by the
1-9 municipality or county related to the seizure, acceptance,
1-10 impoundment, or [and] destruction of the dog. The governing body
1-11 of the municipality or county may prescribe the amount of the fees.
1-12 SECTION 2. Section 822.0422, Health and Safety Code is
1-13 amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections
1-14 (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:
1-15 (b) A person may report an incident described by Section
1-16 822.041(2) to a municipal court, a justice court, or a county
1-17 court. The owner of the dog shall deliver the dog to the animal
1-18 control authority not later than the fifth day after the date on
1-19 which the owner receives notice that the report has been filed.
1-20 The authority may provide for the impoundment of the dog in secure
1-21 and humane conditions until the court orders the disposition of the
1-22 dog.
1-23 (c) If the owner fails to deliver the dog as required by
1-24 Subsection (b), the court shall order the animal control authority
2-1 to seize the dog and shall issue a warrant authorizing the seizure.
2-2 The authority shall seize the dog or order its seizure and shall
2-3 provide for the impoundment of the dog in secure and humane
2-4 conditions until the court orders the disposition of the dog.
2-5 (d) The court shall determine, after notice and hearing as
2-6 provided in Section 822.0423, whether the dog is a dangerous dog.
2-7 (e) The court, after determining that the dog is a dangerous
2-8 dog, may order the animal control authority to continue to impound
2-9 the dangerous dog in secure and humane conditions until the court
2-10 orders disposition of the dog under Section 822.042 and the dog is
2-11 returned to the owner or destroyed.
2-12 (f) The owner shall pay a cost or fee assessed under Section
2-13 822.042(d).
2-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-20 passage, and it is so enacted.