1-1     By:  Brown of Kaufman (Senate Sponsor - Cain)         H.B. No. 2092
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 2001;
 1-3     April 30, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 9, 2001, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 9, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the abatement of public nuisances in counties.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 343.011(c), Health and Safety Code, is
1-11     amended to read as follows:
1-12           (c)  A public nuisance is:
1-13                 (1)  keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on
1-14     premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained
1-15     in a closed receptacle;
1-16                 (2)  keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish,
1-17     including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves,
1-18     furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood or within
1-19     300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish
1-20     or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible
1-21     from a public street;
1-22                 (3)  maintaining premises in a manner that creates an
1-23     unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes,
1-24     rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
1-25                 (4)  allowing weeds to grow on premises in a
1-26     neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another
1-27     residence or commercial establishment;
1-28                 (5)  maintaining a building in a manner that is
1-29     structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or
1-30     public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary
1-31     conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or
1-32     abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
1-33                 (6)  maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property
1-34     in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
1-35                       (A)  a fence that is at least four feet high and
1-36     that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child;  or
1-37                       (B)  a cover over the entire swimming pool that
1-38     cannot be removed by a child;
1-39                 (7)  maintaining a flea market in a manner that
1-40     constitutes a fire hazard;
1-41                 (8)  discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual
1-42     obstruction on:
1-43                       (A)  county-owned land;  or
1-44                       (B)  land or easements owned or held by a special
1-45     district that has the commissioners court of the county as its
1-46     governing body;  or
1-47                 (9)  discarding refuse on the smaller of:
1-48                       (A)  the area that spans 20 feet on each side of
1-49     a utility line;  or
1-50                       (B)  the actual span of the utility easement.
1-51           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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