By Ellis                                              S.B. No. 1268
         76R6735 SMJ-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the notice requirements for violations of certain
 1-3     health and safety statutes and ordinances.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-6     amended by amending Subsection (b), adding a new Subsection (c),
 1-7     and redesignating existing Subsection (c) as Subsection (d) to read
 1-8     as follows:
 1-9           (b)  The notice must be given:
1-10                 (1)  personally to the owner in writing;
1-11                 (2)  by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
1-12     [post office] address as recorded in the appraisal district records
1-13     of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
1-14                 (3)  if personal service cannot be obtained or the
1-15     owner's post office address is unknown:
1-16                       (A)  by publication at least twice within 10
1-17     consecutive days;
1-18                       (B)  by posting the notice on or near the front
1-19     door of each building on the property to which the violation
1-20     relates; or
1-21                       (C)  by posting the notice on a placard attached
1-22     to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
1-23     violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
1-24           (c)  If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
 2-1     accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal
 2-2     Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the
 2-3     validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is
 2-4     considered as delivered.
 2-5           (d) [(c)]  The municipality in the notice of a violation may
 2-6     inform the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, that
 2-7     if the owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature
 2-8     that poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before
 2-9     the first anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality
2-10     without further notice may correct the violation at the owner's
2-11     expense and assess the expense against the property.  If a
2-12     violation covered by a notice under this subsection occurs within
2-13     the one-year period, and the municipality has not been informed in
2-14     writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the municipality
2-15     without notice may take any action permitted by Subsections (a)(1)
2-16     and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by Section 342.007.
2-17           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-18           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
2-19     notice under Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, that is given
2-20     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A notice that is given
2-21     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
2-22     effect immediately before the effective date, and that law is
2-23     continued in effect for that purpose.
2-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.