85R2339 JTS-F
By: Workman H.B. No. 1572
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a property owner's right to remove a tree or vegetation
that the owner believes poses a fire risk.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 240.909(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Section 250.008, the [The]
commissioners court of a county subject to this section may
prohibit or restrict the clear-cutting of live oak trees in the
unincorporated area of the county.
SECTION 2. The heading to Chapter 250, Local Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 250. MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL GOVERNMENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY
[OF MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES]
SECTION 3. Chapter 250, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Section 250.008 to read as follows:
Sec. 250.008. REMOVAL OF TREE OR VEGETATION THAT POSES FIRE
RISK. (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c), a
municipality, county, or other political subdivision may not enact
or enforce any ordinance, rule, or other regulation that restricts
the ability of a property owner to remove a tree or vegetation on
the owner's property that the owner believes poses a risk of fire to
a structure on the property or on adjacent property, including a
regulation that requires the owner to file an affidavit or notice
before removing the tree or vegetation.
(b) This section does not prevent the enforcement of an
ordinance, rule, or other regulation:
(1) on property being developed under a municipal
permit; or
(2) that:
(A) restricts the ability of a property owner to
remove a tree eight inches or larger in diameter at four and a half
feet above the natural ground, except that no restrictions may be
made on the ability to remove a mesquite (genus Prosopis), juniper
(genus Juniperus), salt cedar (genus Tamarix), or hackberry (genus
Celtis) tree, regardless of size; or
(B) is designed to mitigate tree-borne diseases
as recommended by the Texas A&M Forest Service.
(c) This section does not apply to a municipality whose
extraterritorial jurisdiction is immediately adjacent to or
includes all or part of a federal military installation in active
use as of September 1, 2017.
SECTION 4. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding
Section 202.013 to read as follows:
Sec. 202.013. REGULATION OF CERTAIN TREE OR VEGETATION
REMOVAL. (a) A property owners' association may not include or
enforce a provision in a dedicatory instrument that restricts the
ability of a property owner to remove a tree or vegetation on the
owner's property that the owner believes poses a risk of fire to a
structure on the property or on adjacent property, including a
provision that requires the owner to file an affidavit or notice
before removing the tree or vegetation.
(b) This section does not apply to:
(1) a provision in a dedicatory instrument designed to
mitigate tree-borne disease as recommended by the Texas A&M Forest
Service; or
(2) an area of an owner's property that is in a
specified drainage or conservation easement shown on a plat
recorded with the applicable political subdivision.
SECTION 5. Section 202.013, Property Code, as added by this
Act, applies to a dedicatory instrument without regard to whether
the dedicatory instrument takes effect or is renewed before, on, or
after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 6. 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, 2017.