| 1 | | - | By: Perry, West S.B. No. 304 |
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| 1 | + | By: Perry S.B. No. 304 |
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| 2 | + | (In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2024; February 3, 2025, |
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| 3 | + | read first time and referred to Committee on Local Government; |
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| 4 | + | March 17, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, |
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| 5 | + | Nays 0; March 17, 2025, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | + | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 4 | 7 | | |
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| 5 | 8 | | |
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| 6 | 9 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 7 | 10 | | AN ACT |
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| 8 | 11 | | relating to the jurisdiction of municipal courts over health and |
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| 9 | 12 | | safety and nuisance abatement ordinances. |
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| 10 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Section 29.003, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 12 | 15 | | adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows: |
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| 13 | 16 | | (a-1) The governing body of a municipality by ordinance may |
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| 14 | 17 | | provide that the court has: |
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| 15 | 18 | | (1) civil jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing |
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| 16 | 19 | | municipal ordinances enacted under Subchapter A, Chapter 214, Local |
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| 17 | 20 | | Government Code, or Subchapter E, Chapter 683, Transportation Code; |
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| 18 | 21 | | (2) concurrent jurisdiction with a district court or a |
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| 19 | 22 | | county court at law under Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Local |
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| 20 | 23 | | Government Code, within the municipality's territorial limits and |
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| 21 | 24 | | property owned by the municipality located in the municipality's |
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| 22 | 25 | | extraterritorial jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing health |
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| 23 | 26 | | and safety and nuisance abatement ordinances; and |
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| 24 | 27 | | (3) authority to issue: |
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| 25 | 28 | | (A) search warrants for the purpose of |
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| 26 | 29 | | investigating a health and safety or nuisance abatement ordinance |
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| 27 | 30 | | violation; and |
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| 28 | 31 | | (B) seizure warrants for the purpose of securing, |
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| 29 | 32 | | removing, or demolishing the offending property and removing the |
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| 30 | 33 | | debris from the premises. |
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| 31 | 34 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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