Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB634 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Davis, et al. S.B. No. 634
2	2	(Collier)
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to regulating faulty on-site sewage disposal systems in
8	8	the unincorporated areas of a county as a public nuisance;
9	9	providing a criminal penalty.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 343.011, Health and
12	12	Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
13	13	(c) A public nuisance is:
14	14	(1) keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on
15	15	premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained
16	16	in a closed receptacle;
17	17	(2) keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish,
18	18	including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves,
19	19	furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood or within
20	20	300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish
21	21	or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible
22	22	from a public street;
23	23	(3) maintaining premises in a manner that creates an
24	24	unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes,
25	25	rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
26	26	(4) allowing weeds to grow on premises in a
27	27	neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another
28	28	residence or commercial establishment;
29	29	(5) maintaining a building in a manner that is
30	30	structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or
31	31	public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary
32	32	conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or
33	33	abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
34	34	(6) maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property
35	35	in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
36	36	(A) a fence that is at least four feet high and
37	37	that has a latched and locked gate; and
38	38	(B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that
39	39	cannot be removed by a child;
40	40	(7) maintaining on any property in a neighborhood in a
41	41	county with a population of more than 1.1 million a swimming pool
42	42	that is not protected with:
43	43	(A) a fence that is at least four feet high and
44	44	that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child; or
45	45	(B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that
46	46	cannot be removed by a child;
47	47	(8) maintaining a flea market in a manner that
48	48	constitutes a fire hazard;
49	49	(9) discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual
50	50	obstruction on:
51	51	(A) county-owned land; or
52	52	(B) land or easements owned or held by a special
53	53	district that has the commissioners court of the county as its
54	54	governing body;
55	55	(10) discarding refuse on the smaller of:
56	56	(A) the area that spans 20 feet on each side of a
57	57	utility line; or
58	58	(B) the actual span of the utility easement;
59	59	(11) filling or blocking a drainage easement, failing
60	60	to maintain a drainage easement, maintaining a drainage easement in
61	61	a manner that allows the easement to be clogged with debris,
62	62	sediment, or vegetation, or violating an agreement with the county
63	63	to improve or maintain a drainage easement; [or]
64	64	(12) discarding refuse on property that is not
65	65	authorized for that activity; or
66	66	(13) surface discharge from an on-site sewage disposal
67	67	system as defined by Section 366.002.
68	68	SECTION 2. Section 343.021, Health and Safety Code, is
69	69	amended to read as follows:
70	70	Sec. 343.021. AUTHORITY TO ABATE NUISANCE. (a) If a
71	71	county adopts abatement procedures that are consistent with the
72	72	general purpose of this chapter and that conform to this chapter,
73	73	the county may abate a nuisance under this chapter:
74	74	(1) by demolition or removal, except as provided by
75	75	Subsection (b);
76	76	(2) in the case of a nuisance under Section
77	77	343.011(c)(1), (9), or (10), by prohibiting or controlling access
78	78	to the premises;
79	79	(3) in the case of a nuisance under Section
80	80	343.011(c)(6), by:
81	81	(A) prohibiting or controlling access to the
82	82	premises and installing a cover that cannot be opened by a child
83	83	over the entire swimming pool; or
84	84	(B) draining and filling the swimming pool; or
85	85	(4) in the case of a nuisance under Section
86	86	343.011(c)(12), by removal, remediation, storage, transportation,
87	87	disposal, or other means of waste management authorized under
88	88	Chapter 361.
89	89	(b) In the case of a nuisance under Section 343.011(c)(13),
90	90	the county may use any means of abatement reasonably necessary to
91	91	bring the system into compliance with Chapter 366 only after the
92	92	defendant fails to abate the nuisance as ordered by the court under
93	93	Section 343.012(e).
94	94	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.