CHAPTER 342. LOCAL REGULATION OF SANITATION

State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Texas > Health-and-safety-code > Title-5-sanitation-and-environmental-quality > Chapter-342-local-regulation-of-sanitation

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

TITLE 5. SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

SUBTITLE A. SANITATION

CHAPTER 342. LOCAL REGULATION OF SANITATION

SUBCHAPTER A. MUNICIPAL REGULATION OF SANITATION

Sec. 342.001. MUNICIPAL POWER CONCERNING STAGNANT WATER AND

OTHER UNSANITARY CONDITIONS. (a) The governing body of a

municipality may require the filling, draining, and regulating of

any place in the municipality that is unwholesome, contains

stagnant water, or is in any other condition that may produce

disease.

(b) The governing body of a municipality may require the

inspection of all premises.

owner of premises on which stagnant water is found.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.002. MUNICIPAL POWER CONCERNING SEWERS AND PRIVIES.

The governing body of a municipality may:

(1) regulate the making, filling, altering, or repairing of

sewers and privies;

(2) direct the mode and material for constructing sewers and

privies; and

(3) regulate the cleaning and disinfecting of sewers and

privies.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.003. MUNICIPAL POWER CONCERNING FILTH, CARRION, AND

OTHER UNWHOLESOME MATTER. The governing body of a municipality

may regulate the cleaning of a building, establishment, or ground

from filth, carrion, or other impure or unwholesome matter.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.004. MUNICIPAL POWER CONCERNING WEEDS OR OTHER

UNSANITARY MATTER. The governing body of a municipality may

require the owner of a lot in the municipality to keep the lot

free from weeds, rubbish, brush, and other objectionable,

unsightly, or unsanitary matter.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.005. VIOLATION OF ORDINANCE. The governing body of a

municipality may punish an owner or occupant of property in the

municipality who violates an ordinance adopted under this

subchapter.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.006. WORK OR IMPROVEMENTS BY MUNICIPALITY; NOTICE. (a)

If the owner of property in the municipality does not comply

with a municipal ordinance or requirement under this chapter

within seven days of notice of a violation, the municipality may:

(1) do the work or make the improvements required; and

(2) pay for the work done or improvements made and charge the

expenses to the owner of the property.

(b) The notice must be given:

(1) personally to the owner in writing;

(2) by letter addressed to the owner at the owner's address as

recorded in the appraisal district records of the appraisal

district in which the property is located; or

(3) if personal service cannot be obtained:

(A) by publication at least once;

(B) by posting the notice on or near the front door of each

building on the property to which the violation relates; or

driven into the ground on the property to which the violation

relates.

accordance with Subsection (b), and the United States Postal

Service returns the notice as "refused" or "unclaimed," the

validity of the notice is not affected, and the notice is

considered as delivered.

(d) In a notice provided under this section, a municipality may

inform the owner by regular mail and a posting on the property,

or by personally delivering the notice, that if the owner commits

another violation of the same kind or nature that poses a danger

to the public health and safety on or before the first

anniversary of the date of the notice, the municipality without

further notice may correct the violation at the owner's expense

and assess the expense against the property. If a violation

covered by a notice under this subsection occurs within the

one-year period, and the municipality has not been informed in

writing by the owner of an ownership change, then the

municipality without notice may take any action permitted by

Subsections (a)(1) and (2) and assess its expenses as provided by

Section 342.007.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 252, Sec. 1, eff. June 5,

1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 921, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1993;

Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 209, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts

2001, 77th Leg., ch. 413, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Sec. 342.007. ASSESSMENT OF EXPENSES; LIEN. (a) The governing

body of a municipality may assess expenses incurred under Section

342.006 against the real estate on which the work is done or

improvements made.

(b) To obtain a lien against the property, the mayor, municipal

health authority, or municipal official designated by the mayor

must file a statement of expenses with the county clerk of the

county in which the municipality is located. The lien statement

must state the name of the owner, if known, and the legal

description of the property. The lien attaches upon the filing of

the lien statement with the county clerk.

security for the expenditures made and interest accruing at the

rate of 10 percent on the amount due from the date of payment by

the municipality.

(d) The lien is inferior only to:

(1) tax liens; and

(2) liens for street improvements.

(e) The governing body of the municipality may bring a suit for

foreclosure in the name of the municipality to recover the

expenditures and interest due.

(f) The statement of expenses or a certified copy of the

statement is prima facie proof of the expenses incurred by the

municipality in doing the work or making the improvements.

(g) The remedy provided by this section is in addition to the

remedy provided by Section 342.005.

(h) The governing body of a municipality may foreclose a lien on

property under this subchapter in a proceeding relating to the

property brought under Subchapter E, Chapter 33, Tax Code.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 921, Sec. 2, eff. Aug. 30,

1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1017, Sec. 4, eff. Aug. 28, 1995.

Sec. 342.008. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY TO ABATE DANGEROUS WEEDS.

(a) A municipality may abate, without notice, weeds that:

(1) have grown higher than 48 inches; and

(2) are an immediate danger to the health, life, or safety of

any person.

(b) Not later than the 10th day after the date the municipality

abates weeds under this section, the municipality shall give

notice to the property owner in the manner required by Section

342.006.

(1) an identification, which is not required to be a legal

description, of the property;

(2) a description of the violations of the ordinance that

occurred on the property;

(3) a statement that the municipality abated the weeds; and

(4) an explanation of the property owner's right to request an

administrative hearing about the municipality's abatement of the

weeds.

(d) The municipality shall conduct an administrative hearing on

the abatement of weeds under this section if, not later than the

30th day after the date of the abatement of the weeds, the

property owner files with the municipality a written request for

a hearing.

(e) An administrative hearing conducted under this section shall

be conducted not later than the 20th day after the date a request

for a hearing is filed. The owner may testify or present any

witnesses or written information relating to the municipality's

abatement of the weeds.

(f) A municipality may assess expenses and create liens under

this section as it assesses expenses and creates liens under

Section 342.007. A lien created under this section is subject to

the same conditions as a lien created under Section 342.007.

(g) The authority granted a municipality by this section is in

addition to the authority granted by Section 342.006.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 359, Sec. 3, eff. Aug. 28,

1995.

SUBCHAPTER B. REGULATION OF SANITATION BY CERTAIN TYPES OF

MUNICIPALITIES

Sec. 342.021. POWER OF TYPE A GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY

CONCERNING CARCASSES OR OTHER UNWHOLESOME MATTER. (a) The

governing body of a Type A general-law municipality may:

(1) prevent a person from bringing, depositing, or having in the

municipal limits a carcass or other offensive or unwholesome

substance or matter; and

(2) require a person to remove or destroy any offensive or

unwholesome substance or matter, filth, putrid or unsound beef,

pork, or fish, or hides or skins of any kind that the person is

responsible for placing in the municipality.

(b) If the person does not comply with a provision adopted under

Subsection (a), the municipality's governing body may:

(1) authorize a municipal officer to remove or destroy the

offending material; or

(2) require the owner of a dead animal to remove the dead animal

to a place designated by the municipality's governing body.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

Sec. 342.022. JOINT SANITARY REGULATIONS OF TYPE A GENERAL-LAW

MUNICIPALITY AND COUNTY. The governing body of a Type A

general-law municipality may cooperate with the commissioner's

court of the county in which the municipality is located in

making improvements considered necessary by those entities to:

(1) improve the public health and promote efficient sanitary

regulations; and

(2) arrange for the construction of and payment for those

improvements.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

State Codes and Statutes

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