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.
(c) The governing body of a municipality may impose fines on the
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
(C) by posting the notice on a placard attached to a stake
driven into the ground on the property to which the violation
relates.
(c) If a municipality mails a notice to a property owner in
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.
(c) The lien obtained by the municipality's governing body is
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.
(c) The notice shall contain:
(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.