By Brown of Kaufman                                   H.B. No. 2092
         77R9083 PAM-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the abatement of public nuisances in counties.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 343.011(c), Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (c)  A public nuisance is:
 1-7                 (1)  keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on
 1-8     premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained
 1-9     in a closed receptacle;
1-10                 (2)  keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish,
1-11     including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves,
1-12     furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood or within
1-13     300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish
1-14     or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible
1-15     from a public street;
1-16                 (3)  maintaining premises in a manner that creates an
1-17     unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes,
1-18     rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
1-19                 (4)  allowing weeds to grow on premises in a
1-20     neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another
1-21     residence or commercial establishment;
1-22                 (5)  maintaining a building in a manner that is
1-23     structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or
1-24     public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary
 2-1     conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or
 2-2     abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
 2-3                 (6)  maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property
 2-4     in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
 2-5                       (A)  a fence that is at least four feet high and
 2-6     that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child;  or
 2-7                       (B)  a cover over the entire swimming pool that
 2-8     cannot be removed by a child;
 2-9                 (7)  maintaining a flea market in a manner that
2-10     constitutes a fire hazard;
2-11                 (8)  discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual
2-12     obstruction on:
2-13                       (A)  county-owned land;  or
2-14                       (B)  land or easements owned or held by a special
2-15     district that has the commissioners court of the county as its
2-16     governing body;  or
2-17                 (9)  discarding refuse on the smaller of:
2-18                       (A)  the area that spans 20 feet on each side of
2-19     a utility line;  or
2-20                       (B)  the actual span of the utility easement.
2-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.