| H.B. No. 819 | ||
|
|
||
| relating to the definition of a public health nuisance; amending | ||
| provisions subject to a criminal penalty. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 341.011, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| amended to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 341.011. NUISANCE. Each of the following is a public | ||
| health nuisance: | ||
| (1) a condition or place that is a breeding place for | ||
| flies and that is in a populous area; | ||
| (2) spoiled or diseased meats intended for human | ||
| consumption; | ||
| (3) a restaurant, food market, bakery, other place of | ||
| business, or vehicle in which food is prepared, packed, stored, | ||
| transported, sold, or served to the public and that is not | ||
| constantly maintained in a sanitary condition; | ||
| (4) a place, condition, or building controlled or | ||
| operated by a state or local government agency that is not | ||
| maintained in a sanitary condition; | ||
| (5) sewage, human excreta, wastewater, garbage, or | ||
| other organic wastes deposited, stored, discharged, or exposed in | ||
| such a way as to be a potential instrument or medium in disease | ||
| transmission to a person or between persons; | ||
| (6) a vehicle or container that is used to transport | ||
| garbage, human excreta, or other organic material and that is | ||
| defective and allows leakage or spilling of contents; | ||
| (7) a collection of water in which mosquitoes are | ||
| breeding in the limits of a municipality or a collection of water | ||
| that is a breeding area for [ |
||
| that can transmit diseases regardless of the collection's location | ||
| other than a location or property where activities meeting the | ||
| definition of Section 11.002(12)(A), Water Code, occur; | ||
| (8) a condition that may be proven to injuriously | ||
| affect the public health and that may directly or indirectly result | ||
| from the operations of a bone boiling or fat rendering plant, tallow | ||
| or soap works, or other similar establishment; | ||
| (9) a place or condition harboring rats in a populous | ||
| area; | ||
| (10) the presence of ectoparasites, including | ||
| bedbugs, lice, and mites, suspected to be disease carriers in a | ||
| place in which sleeping accommodations are offered to the public; | ||
| (11) the maintenance of an open surface privy or an | ||
| overflowing septic tank so that the contents may be accessible to | ||
| flies; and | ||
| (12) an object, place, or condition that is a possible | ||
| and probable medium of disease transmission to or between humans. | ||
| SECTION 2. 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, 2015. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 819 was passed by the House on April | ||
| 13, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 819 was passed by the Senate on May | ||
| 22, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| _____________________ | ||
| Governor | ||