S.B. No. 1238




AN ACT

relating to the creation of a public nuisance by the failure to 
properly maintain a drainage easement.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 343.011, Health and 
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(c)  A public nuisance is:                                                     
		(1)  keeping, storing, or accumulating refuse on 
premises in a neighborhood unless the refuse is entirely contained 
in a closed receptacle;
		(2)  keeping, storing, or accumulating rubbish, 
including newspapers, abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, stoves, 
furniture, tires, and cans, on premises in a neighborhood or within 
300 feet of a public street for 10 days or more, unless the rubbish 
or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible 
from a public street;
		(3)  maintaining premises in a manner that creates an 
unsanitary condition likely to attract or harbor mosquitoes, 
rodents, vermin, or disease-carrying pests;
		(4)  allowing weeds to grow on premises in a 
neighborhood if the weeds are located within 300 feet of another 
residence or commercial establishment;
		(5)  maintaining a building in a manner that is 
structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health, or 
public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary 
conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or 
abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard;
		(6)  maintaining on abandoned and unoccupied property 
in a neighborhood a swimming pool that is not protected with:
			(A)  a fence that is at least four feet high and 
that has a latched gate that cannot be opened by a child; or
			(B)  a cover over the entire swimming pool that 
cannot be removed by a child;
		(7)  maintaining a flea market in a manner that 
constitutes a fire hazard;  
		(8)  discarding refuse or creating a hazardous visual 
obstruction on:       
			(A)  county-owned land; or                                                   
			(B)  land or easements owned or held by a special 
district that has the commissioners court of the county as its 
governing body; [or]
		(9)  discarding refuse on the smaller of:                                     
			(A)  the area that spans 20 feet on each side of a 
utility line; or        
			(B)  the actual span of the utility easement; or                      
		(10)  filling or blocking a drainage easement, failing 
to maintain a drainage easement, maintaining a drainage easement in 
a manner that allows the easement to be clogged with debris, 
sediment, or vegetation, or violating an agreement with the county 
to improve or maintain a drainage easement.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.                           





______________________________    ______________________________
President of the Senate             Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1238 passed the Senate on 
April 28, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.




______________________________ 
   Secretary of the Senate             
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1238 passed the House on 
May 25, 2005, by a non-record vote.




______________________________ 
   Chief Clerk of the House            



Approved:


______________________________ 
            Date



______________________________ 
          Governor