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Texas Legislature· HB 517Effective on 9/1/25

Relating to the authority of a property owners' association to assess a fine for discolored vegetation or turf during a period of residential watering restriction, the official text

Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the Texas Legislature, fetched 2026-08-29. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official page appears here in brackets. This is the enrolled version. The official bill page.
H.B. No. 517

AN ACT

relating to the authority of a property owners' association to

assess a fine for discolored vegetation or turf during a period of

residential watering restriction.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 202, Property Code, is amended by adding

Section 202.008 to read as follows:

Sec. 202.008. LIMITATION ON FINES DURING RESIDENTIAL WATER

RESTRICTION. (a) For the purposes of this section, "residential

watering restriction" means a temporary restriction of water use to

irrigate residential vegetation or turf that is mandated by a

municipality, water utility, or other wholesale or retail water

supplier as part of a strategy to conserve water during a period of

drought.

(b) A property owners' association may not assess a fine

against a property owner for a violation of an applicable

restrictive covenant that requires the owner to plant or install

grass or turf or maintain green vegetation or turf or prohibits

discolored or brown vegetation or turf on the property:

(1) during a period when the owner's property is

subject to a residential watering restriction under which

discolored or brown vegetation or turf could reasonably result; and

(2) before the 60th day after the date a residential

watering restriction described by Subdivision (1) is lifted.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 517 was passed by the House on April

24, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 1, 2 present, not

voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 517 was passed by the Senate on May

12, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: _____________________

Date

_____________________

Governor
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