TITLE: Relating to the authority of a municipality or a property owners' association to regulate the raising or keeping of chickens.

SUMMARY: Relating to the authority of a municipality or a property owners' association to regulate the raising or keeping of chickens.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the authority of a municipality or a property owners' association to regulate the raising or keeping of chickens. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 229, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 229.902 to read as follows: Sec. 229.902. SIX CHICKENS ALLOWED ON SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL LOT. (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by Subsection (b), a municipality may not adopt or enforce an ordinance that prohibits the raising or keeping of six or fewer chickens on a single-family residential lot. (b) A municipality may impose reasonable regulations on the raising or keeping of poultry on a single-family residential lot that do not have the effect of prohibiting the raising or keeping of six or fewer chickens, including: (1) a limit on the number of chickens that may be raised or kept in excess of six; (2) a prohibition on breeding poultry; (3) a prohibition on raising or keeping roosters; or (4) the minimum distance between a chicken coop and a residential structure. (c) An ordinance adopted by a municipality that violates Subsection (a) is void. SECTION 2. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding Section 202.025 to read as follows: Sec. 202.025. SIX CHICKENS ALLOWED ON SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL LOT. (a) Notwithstanding Section 202.002(a), this section applies only to a restrictive covenant created on or after September 1, 2025. (b) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by Subsection (c), a property owners' association may not adopt or enforce a restrictive covenant that prohibits the raising or keeping of six or fewer chickens on a single-family residential lot. (c) A property owners' association may adopt and enforce a restrictive covenant imposing reasonable requirements on the raising or keeping of poultry on a single-family residential lot that do not have the effect of prohibiting the raising or keeping of six or fewer chickens, including: (1) a limit on the number of chickens that may be raised or kept in excess of six; (2) a prohibition on breeding poultry; (3) a prohibition on raising or keeping roosters; or (4) the minimum distance between a chicken coop and another lot. (d) A provision that violates Subsection (b) is void. SECTION 3. 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.