By: Hall S.B. No. 86
(In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2018; February 1, 2019,
read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
Relations; April 3, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 1;
April 3, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 86 By: Schwertner
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of raising or keeping chickens by a
municipality or a property owners' association.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 217, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter D to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER D. MISCELLANEOUS REGULATORY AUTHORITY
Sec. 217.051. SIX CHICKENS ALLOWED ON SINGLE-FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL LOT. (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as
provided by Subsection (b), a municipality may not adopt or enforce
an ordinance that prohibits the raising or keeping of six or fewer
chickens on a single-family residential lot.
(b) A municipality may impose reasonable regulations on the
raising or keeping of poultry on a single-family residential lot
that do not have the effect of prohibiting the raising or keeping of
six or fewer chickens, including:
(1) a limit on the number of chickens that may be
raised or kept in excess of six;
(2) a prohibition on breeding poultry;
(3) a prohibition on raising or keeping roosters; or
(4) the minimum distance between a chicken coop and a
residential structure.
(c) An ordinance adopted by a municipality that violates
Subsection (a) is void.
SECTION 2. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding
Section 202.020 to read as follows:
Sec. 202.020. SIX CHICKENS ALLOWED ON SINGLE-FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL LOT. (a) Notwithstanding Section 202.002(a), this
section applies only to a restrictive covenant created on or after
September 1, 2019.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
Subsection (c), a property owners' association may not adopt or
enforce a restrictive covenant that prohibits the raising or
keeping of six or fewer chickens on a single-family residential
lot.
(c) A property owners' association may adopt and enforce a
restrictive covenant imposing reasonable requirements on the
raising or keeping of poultry on a single-family residential lot
that do not have the effect of prohibiting the raising or keeping of
six or fewer chickens, including:
(1) a limit on the number of chickens that may be
raised or kept in excess of six;
(2) a prohibition on breeding poultry;
(3) a prohibition on raising or keeping roosters; or
(4) the minimum distance between a chicken coop and
another lot.
(d) A provision that violates Subsection (b) is void.
SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 217, Local Government
Code, as added by this Act, applies to an ordinance adopted before,
on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
* * * * *