BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 648

By: Cortez

Trade, Workforce & Economic Development

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that a property owners' association is preventing a constituent from maintaining a clothesline below the fence line on the constituent's property. C.S.H.B. 648 seeks to address this issue by prohibiting certain regulation of clotheslines by a property owners' association.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 648 amends the Property Code to prohibit a property owners' association (POA) from including or enforcing a provision in a dedicatory instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing or using a clothesline on the owner's property for the purpose of drying laundry, provided the clothesline is not in an area visible from ground level from another lot or from an adjoining or adjacent street. A provision that violates this prohibition is void. The bill expressly does not prohibit the inclusion or enforcement of a provision in a dedicatory instrument that does the following:

· prohibits a clothesline that:

o violates a law or threatens the public health or safety, as adjudicated by a court;

o is located on property owned or maintained by the POA;

o is located on property owned in common by the members of the POA; or

o is visible above the fence line of a fenced yard or patio maintained by the property owner; or

· prohibits or requires prior approval of the POA for a clothesline located:

o in or on a front or side yard or patio maintained by the property owner; or

o in an area of a back or side yard or patio that is not fenced or is fenced with
chain-link fencing or another fencing material that is not primarily opaque and solid.

The bill's provisions do not apply to a condominium as defined by the Condominium Act or the Uniform Condominium Act.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 648 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute conditions the prohibition against a POA including or enforcing a provision in a dedicatory instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing or using a clothesline on the owner's property for the purpose of drying laundry on the clothesline not being in an area visible from ground level from another lot or from an adjoining or adjacent street, which the introduced did not do.

The substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced establishing that the bill does not prohibit the inclusion or enforcement of a provision in a dedicatory instrument that prohibits or requires prior approval of the POA for a clothesline located in an area of a back or side yard or patio that is not fenced or that is fenced with fencing material that is not primarily opaque and solid.

The substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced establishing that the bill's provisions do not apply to a condominium.