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.