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By:  Janek                                                        S.B. No. 185


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to standing water as a nuisance.                                     
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 341.011, Health and Safety Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 341.011.  NUISANCE.  Each of the following is a public 
health nuisance: 
		(1)  a condition or place that is a breeding place for 
flies and that is in a populous area;
		(2)  spoiled or diseased meats intended for human 
consumption;              
		(3)  a restaurant, food market, bakery, other place of 
business, or vehicle in which food is prepared, packed, stored, 
transported, sold, or served to the public and that is not 
constantly maintained in a sanitary condition;
		(4)  a place, condition, or building controlled or 
operated by a state or local government agency that is not 
maintained in a sanitary condition;
		(5)  sewage, human excreta, wastewater, garbage, or 
other organic wastes deposited, stored, discharged, or exposed in 
such a way as to be a potential instrument or medium in disease 
transmission to a person or between persons;
		(6)  a vehicle or container that is used to transport 
garbage, human excreta, or other organic material and that is 
defective and allows leakage or spilling of contents;
		(7)  a collection of water in which mosquitoes are 
breeding in the limits of a municipality or a collection of water 
that is a breeding area for Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes that 
can transmit diseases regardless of the collection's location;
		(8)  a condition that may be proven to injuriously 
affect the public health and that may directly or indirectly result 
from the operations of a bone boiling or fat rendering plant, tallow 
or soap works, or other similar establishment;
		(9)  a place or condition harboring rats in a populous 
area;                
		(10)  the presence of ectoparasites, including 
bedbugs, lice, and mites, suspected to be disease carriers in a 
place in which sleeping accommodations are offered to the public;
		(11)  the maintenance of an open surface privy or an 
overflowing septic tank so that the contents may be accessible to 
flies; and
		(12)  an object, place, or condition that is a possible 
and probable medium of disease transmission to or between humans.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.