By: Dominguez (Senate Sponsor - Lucio) H.B. No. 2566
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2019;
May 8, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Health &
Human Services; May 16, 2019, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 8, Nays 1; May 16, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of certain counties to regulate litter
and mosquito control.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 240, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 240.910 to read as follows:
Sec. 240.910. REGULATION OF LITTER AND MOSQUITO CONTROL IN
CERTAIN COUNTIES. (a) This section applies only to a county
located on an international border and adjacent to the Gulf of
Mexico.
(b) In this section:
(1) "Illegally dumped litter" means litter dumped
anywhere other than in an approved solid waste site, as defined by
Section 365.011, Health and Safety Code.
(2) "Litter" has the meaning assigned by Section
365.011, Health and Safety Code.
(c) In addition to the authority granted under Section
365.017, Health and Safety Code, the commissioners court of a
county may adopt and enforce orders to:
(1) control the disposal of litter and the removal of
illegally dumped litter from public or private property; and
(2) regulate the storage or abandonment of property,
including tires and appliances, on public or private property that
creates a nuisance or habitat conducive to mosquito breeding.
(d) An order adopted under this section:
(1) applies only to the unincorporated area of the
county;
(2) may require the record property owner to pay for
the cost of enforcing the order on the property owner's land if the
commissioners court gives the property owner 30 days' written
notice of the enforcement action; and
(3) may not regulate manufactured or industrialized
housing constructed to state or federal building standards in a
manner that is different from regulation of site-built housing.
(e) This section does not authorize the adoption of:
(1) zoning regulations not otherwise authorized under
Chapter 231; or
(2) building regulations not otherwise authorized
under Chapter 233.
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, 2019.
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