Sec. 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

(2) agricultural land.

(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.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 499, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 771, Sec. 2, eff. Aug. 28, 1995; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 752, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 523, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Amended by:

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 355 (S.B. 1238), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1094 (H.B. 2120), Sec. 12, eff. September 1, 2005.

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 388 (S.B. 680), Sec. 1, eff. June 15, 2007.

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1366 (H.B. 3581), Sec. 2, eff. June 15, 2007.

Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87 (S.B. 1969), Sec. 12.005, eff. September 1, 2009.

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 438 (S.B. 634), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2013.

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 441 (H.B. 1643), Sec. 2, eff. June 15, 2015.

Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 644 (H.B. 4559), Sec. 96, eff. September 1, 2023.