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.