Section 343.011 - Public Nuisance(a) This section applies only to the unincorporated area of a county.(b) A person may not cause, permit, or allow a public nuisance under this section.(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 other 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 and locked gate; and (B) a cover over the entire swimming pool that cannot be removed by a child; (7) maintaining on any property in a neighborhood in a county with a population of more than 1.3 million 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; (8) maintaining a flea market in a manner that constitutes a fire hazard; (9) 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; (10) 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; (11) 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; (12) discarding refuse on property that is not authorized for that activity; or (13) surface discharge from an on-site sewage disposal system as defined by Section 366.002. (d) This section does not apply to: (1) a site or facility that is: (A) permitted and regulated by a state agency for the activity described by Subsection (c); or(B) licensed or permitted under Chapter 361 for the activity described by Subsection (c); or(d-1) This subsection applies only to a county with a population of 3.3 million or more and only in an unincorporated area in the county that is at least 5,000 feet outside the boundaries of a home-rule municipality. Subsections (c)(3) and (4) apply only to undeveloped land in the county for which:(1) a condition on that land has been found to cause a public nuisance under those provisions in the preceding year; and(2) a finding of public nuisance could have been applied to that condition when the condition first occurred.(e) In Subsection (d), "agricultural land" means land that qualifies for tax appraisal under Subchapter C or D, Chapter 23, Tax Code.Tex. Health and Safety Code § 343.011
Amended by Acts 2023, Texas Acts of the 88th Leg.- Regular Session, ch. 644,Sec. 96, eff. 9/1/2023.Amended by Acts 2015, Texas Acts of the 84th Leg. - Regular Session, ch. 441,Sec. 2, eff. 6/15/2015.Amended by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg. - Regular Session, ch. 438,Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/2013.Amended By Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87, Sec. 12.005, eff. 9/1/2009.Amended By Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. 6/15/2007.Amended By Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1366, Sec. 2, eff. 6/15/2007.Amended By Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 355, Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/2005.Amended By Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1094, Sec. 12, eff. 9/1/2005.Amended By Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 523, Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/2001.Amended By Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 752, Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/1999Amended By Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 771, Sec. 2, eff. 8/28/1995Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 499, Sec. 3, eff. 9/1/1991 Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/1989.