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 * * * * *