By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1268
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the notice requirements for violations of certain
 1-2     health and safety statutes and ordinances.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended by amending Subsection (b), adding a new Subsection (c),
 1-6     and redesignating existing Subsection (c) as Subsection (d) to read
 1-7     as follows:
 1-8           (b)  The notice must be given:
 1-9                 (1)  personally to the owner in writing;
1-10                 (2)  by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
1-11     [post office] address as recorded in the appraisal district records
1-12     of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
1-13                 (3)  if personal service cannot be obtained or the
1-14     owner's post office address is unknown:
1-15                       (A)  by publication at least twice within 10
1-16     consecutive days;
1-17                       (B)  by posting the notice on or near the front
1-18     door of each building on the property to which the violation
1-19     relates; or
1-20                       (C)  by posting the notice on a placard attached
1-21     to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
1-22     violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
1-23           (c)  If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
1-24     accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal
 2-1     Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the
 2-2     validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is
 2-3     considered as delivered.
 2-4           (d)  The municipality in the notice of a violation may inform
 2-5     the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, that if the
 2-6     owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that
 2-7     poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the
 2-8     first anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality
 2-9     without further notice may correct the violation at the owner's
2-10     expense and assess the expense against the property.  If a
2-11     violation covered by a notice under this subsection occurs within
2-12     the one-year period, and the municipality has not been informed in
2-13     writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the municipality
2-14     without notice may take any action permitted by Subsections (a)(1)
2-15     and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by Section 342.007.
2-16           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
2-18     notice under Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, that is given
2-19     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A notice that is given
2-20     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
2-21     effect immediately before the effective date, and that law is
2-22     continued in effect for that purpose.
2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.