ON APRIL 16, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1 AND #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1050, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to make changes and additions to present law concerning nuisances. Under present law, a petition to abate a nuisance may be brought in the name of the state, upon relation of the attorney general and reporter, or any district attorney general, or any city or county attorney, or without the concurrence of any such officers, upon the relation of 10 or more citizens and freeholders of the county wherein such nuisances may exist. Under this amendment, the occurrence of any of the following circumstances is prima facie evidence of a nuisance per se, which may be established by providing written notice to the property owner, and the existence thereof for which anyone who is authorized to petition for abatement of a nuisance in the name of the state under present law may avail themselves of any remedies available at law or in equity: (1) Three or more unrelated incidents occurring within a period of 24 months on the same parcel of real property that result in sexually related charges and, after the receipt of written notice and within 24 months of the first of the incidents resulting in a sexually related charge that is the subject of the notice, another additional unrelated incident occurs that results in a sexually related charge, as defined in the full text of this amendment; (2) Three or more unrelated incidents occurring within a period of 24 months on the same parcel of real property that result in drug-related charges and, after the receipt of written notice and within 24 months of the first of the incidents resulting in a drug-related charge that is the subject of the notice, another additional unrelated incident occurs that results in a drug-related charge, as defined in the full text of this amendment; (3) Three or more unrelated incidents occurring within a period of 24 months on the same parcel of real property that result in assaultive charges and, after the receipt of written notice and within 24 months of the first of the incidents resulting in an assaultive charge that is the subject of the notice, another additional unrelated incident occurs that results in an assaultive charge, as defined in the full text of this amendment; (4) Three or more unrelated incidents occurring within a period of 24 months on the same parcel of real property that result in firearm-related charges and, after the receipt of written notice and within 24 months of the first of the incidents resulting in a firearm-related charge that is the subject of the notice, another additional unrelated incident occurs that results in a firearm-related charge, as defined in the full text of this amendment; or (5) Three or more unrelated incidents occurring within a period of 36 months on the same parcel of real property that result in property-related or juvenile-related charges and, after the receipt of written notice and within 36 months of the first of the incidents resulting in a property-related or juvenile-related charge that is the subject of the notice, another additional unrelated incident occurs that results in a property-related or juvenile-related charge, as defined in the full text of this amendment. For purposes of (1) – (5), an arrest must have occurred in order for a violation to be a charge. If, upon the trial, the existence of a nuisance, as described in (1)–(5) is established) and, following an order of abatement, an additional incident occurs on the same parcel of real property that results in the type of charges that resulted in the original nuisance finding, then under this amendment one additional incident is prima facie evidence of a nuisance per se and the existence thereof for which anyone who is authorized to petition for abatement of a nuisance in the name of the state under present law may avail themselves of any remedies available at law or in equity. If a court finds a nuisance as described in (1)-(5) and the person or entity keeping, maintaining, or carrying on such nuisance is the person or entity who was subject to the previous order of abatement, then, in addition to the remedies available at law or in equity, this amendment authorizes the court to require the person or entity keeping, maintaining, or carrying on such nuisance to pay statutory damages in an amount not less than $1,000 and not more than $50,000 to any person who owns real property within the zip code in which the nuisance exists and who files a claim with the court alleging that the person's property value was damaged by the continued existence of the nuisance. AMENDMENT #2 replaces the requirement that an arrest occurred with a requirement that a warrant or citation has been issued or a grand jury has returned a true bill in order for there to be a charge under this bill.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 29-3-106(a)(1), 29-3-106, 29-3-106(c)
Amended with HA0365, HA0438 -- 04/16/2025: 29-3-106(a)(1), 29-3-106, 29-3-106(c), 29-3-101, 29-3-110, 29-3-101(a)