SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1261
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE HOHULIN.
Pre-filed December 17, 2001, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 263.245 and 263.247, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to brush adjacent to county roads.
Section A. Section 263.245 and 263.247, RSMo, are repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 263.245, to read as follows:
263.245. 1. All owners of land [in any county with a township form of government, located north of the Missouri River and having no portion of the county located east of U.S. Highway 63] shall control all brush growing on such owner's property that is designated as the county right-of-way or county maintenance easement part of such owner's property and which is adjacent to any county road. Such brush shall be cut, burned or otherwise destroyed as often as necessary in order to keep such lands accessible for purposes of maintenance and safety of the county road.
2. The county commission, either upon its own motion or upon receipt of a written notice requesting the action from any residents of the county in which the county road bordering the lands in question is located or upon written request of any person regularly using the county road, may control such brush so as to allow easy access to the land described in subsection 1 of this section, and for that purpose the county commission, or its agents, servants, or employees shall have authority to enter on such lands without being liable to an action of trespass therefor, and shall keep an accurate account of the expenses incurred in eradicating the brush, and shall verify such statement under seal of the county commission, and transmit the same to the officer whose duty it is or may be to extend state and county taxes on tax books or bills against real estate. Such officer shall extend the aggregate expenses so charged against each tract of land as a special tax, which shall then become a lien on such lands, and be collected as state and county taxes are collected by law and paid to the county commission and credited to the county control fund.
3. Before proceeding to control brush as provided in this section, the county commission of the county in which the land is located shall notify the owner of the land of the requirements of this law by certified mail, return receipt requested, from a list supplied by the officer who prepares the tax list, and shall allow the owner of the land thirty days from acknowledgment date of return receipt, or date of refusal of acceptance of delivery as the case may be, to eradicate all such brush growing on land designated as the county right-of-way or county maintenance easement part of such owner's land and which is adjacent to the county road. In the event that the property owner cannot be located by certified mail, notice shall be placed in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the land is located at least thirty days before the county commission removes the brush pursuant to subsection 2 of this section. Such property owner shall be granted an automatic thirty-day extension due to hardship by notifying the county commission that such owner cannot comply with the requirements of this section, due to hardship, within the first thirty-day period. The property owner may be granted a second extension by a majority vote of the county commission. There shall be no further extensions. For the purposes of this subsection, "hardship" may be financial, physical or any other condition that the county commission deems to be a valid reason to allow an extension of time to comply with the requirements of this section.
4. County commissions shall not withhold rock, which is provided from funds from the county aid road trust fund, for maintaining county roads due to the abutting property owner's refusal to remove brush located on land designated as the county right-of-way or county maintenance easement part of such owner's land. County commissions shall use such rock on the county roads, even though the brush is not removed, or county commissions may resort to the procedures in this section to remove the brush.
[263.247. 1. Section 263.245 shall become effective only in those counties described in subsection 1 of section 263.245 in which the governing body of the county submits to the voters of the county, at a regularly scheduled countywide election, a proposal to implement the provisions of section 263.245. The governing body of the county shall give notice of the election by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for two consecutive weeks, the last insert of which shall be within ten days of the election.
2. The ballot of submission shall include, but not be limited to, the following language:
Shall the county of........................ (county's name) enforce brush control adjacent to county roads?
YES NO
If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "Yes". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "No".
3. If a majority of the votes cast at the election are in favor of such proposal, section 263.245 shall become effective in that county. If a majority of the votes cast at the election are opposed to such proposal, section 263.245 shall not become effective in that county.
4. The governing body of any county in which the provisions of section 263.245 are in effect may, on its own motion, call for an election to repeal the implementation of section 263.245 in that county. The election shall be held at the same time and in the same manner as an election to implement section 263.245 in the county as prescribed in subsections 1 to 3 of this section, except that the ballot of submission shall include, but not be limited to, the following language:
Shall the county of.................... (county's name) discontinue enforcement of brush control adjacent to county roads?
YES NO]
Missouri House of Representatives