1-1     By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1268
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; April 15, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 15, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the notice requirements for violations of certain
 1-9     health and safety statutes and ordinances.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, is
1-12     amended by amending Subsection (b), adding a new Subsection (c),
1-13     and redesignating existing Subsection (c) as Subsection (d) to read
1-14     as follows:
1-15           (b)  The notice must be given:
1-16                 (1)  personally to the owner in writing;
1-17                 (2)  by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's
1-18     [post office] address as recorded in the appraisal district records
1-19     of the appraisal district in which the property is located; or
1-20                 (3)  if personal service cannot be obtained or the
1-21     owner's post office address is unknown:
1-22                       (A)  by publication at least twice within 10
1-23     consecutive days;
1-24                       (B)  by posting the notice on or near the front
1-25     door of each building on the property to which the violation
1-26     relates; or
1-27                       (C)  by posting the notice on a placard attached
1-28     to a stake driven into the ground on the property to which the
1-29     violation relates, if the property contains no buildings.
1-30           (c)  If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
1-31     accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal
1-32     Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the
1-33     validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is
1-34     considered as delivered.
1-35           (d)  The municipality in the notice of a violation may inform
1-36     the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, that if the
1-37     owner commits another violation of the same kind or nature that
1-38     poses a danger to the public health and safety on or before the
1-39     first anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality
1-40     without further notice may correct the violation at the owner's
1-41     expense and assess the expense against the property.  If a
1-42     violation covered by a notice under this subsection occurs within
1-43     the one-year period, and the municipality has not been informed in
1-44     writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the municipality
1-45     without notice may take any action permitted by Subsections (a)(1)
1-46     and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by Section 342.007.
1-47           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-48           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
1-49     notice under Section 342.006, Health and Safety Code, that is given
1-50     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A notice that is given
1-51     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
1-52     effect immediately before the effective date, and that law is
1-53     continued in effect for that purpose.
1-54           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-55     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-59                                  * * * * *