88R3627 KBB-D
By: Hall S.B. No. 326
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a municipality or a property owners'
association to regulate the raising or keeping of chickens.
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. 217.061. 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 202.024 to read as follows:
Sec. 202.024. 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, 2023.
(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. 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, 2023.