| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the jurisdiction of municipal courts over health and |
|
|
safety and nuisance abatement ordinances. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 29.003, Government Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows: |
|
|
(a-1) The governing body of a municipality by ordinance may |
|
|
provide that the court has: |
|
|
(1) civil jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing |
|
|
municipal ordinances enacted under Subchapter A, Chapter 214, Local |
|
|
Government Code, or Subchapter E, Chapter 683, Transportation Code; |
|
|
(2) concurrent jurisdiction with a district court or a |
|
|
county court at law under Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Local |
|
|
Government Code, within the municipality's territorial limits and |
|
|
property owned by the municipality located in the municipality's |
|
|
extraterritorial jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing health |
|
|
and safety and nuisance abatement ordinances; and |
|
|
(3) authority to issue: |
|
|
(A) search warrants for the purpose of |
|
|
investigating a health and safety or nuisance abatement ordinance |
|
|
violation; and |
|
|
(B) seizure warrants for the purpose of securing, |
|
|
removing, or demolishing the offending property and removing the |
|
|
debris from the premises. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |