78R1151 MI-D

By:  Dutton                                                       H.B. No. 378



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the remedies available to a person to abate a public 
nuisance in a municipality.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.   Subchapter B, Chapter 125, Civil Practice and 
Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 125.023 to read as 
follows:
	Sec. 125.023.  ADDITIONAL REMEDIES IN MUNICIPALITY. (a)  In 
addition to the other remedies available under this chapter, a 
resident of a municipality may bring a suit to require the 
municipality to take remedial action against a public nuisance that 
is occurring in the municipality.  The suit may be brought only in a 
county in which the nuisance occurs.
	(b)  If the court determines that the alleged nuisance that 
is the object of the suit is a public nuisance and a threat to the 
public health or welfare of the residents of the municipality, the 
court may order the municipality to:
		(1)  warn any person who uses or is about to use the 
premises for the purposes constituting the nuisance that the use 
constitutes a public nuisance;
		(2)  investigate whether the municipality should bring 
a suit under this subchapter or other law to abate the nuisance;
		(3)  purchase property on which a use that constitutes 
the public nuisance has occurred; or
		(4)  exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire 
the property on which a use that constitutes the public nuisance has 
occurred.
	(c)  Before ordering relief under Subsection (b)(3) or (4), 
the court must find that the acquisition of the property by the 
municipality serves a public purpose of the municipality.
	SECTION 2.   This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.