S.B. No. 185




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 other than a location or property where activities meeting the definition of Section 11.002(12)(A), Water Code, occur; (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.
______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 185 passed the Senate on April 25, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 14, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate I hereby certify that S.B. No. 185 passed the House, with amendment, on May 10, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, two present not voting. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House Approved: ______________________________ Date ______________________________ Governor