**PROHIBITED AS OF 09-01-2023 BY STATE LAW** ORDINANCE NO. 2017-7-1 **PROHIBITED AS OF 09-01-2023 BY STATE LAW**
AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING JUVENILE CURFEW REGULATIONS; MAKING IT AN OFFENSE FOR MINORS, PARENTS AND GUARDIANS OF MINORS, AND BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS VIOLATIN CURFEW REGULATIONS; PROVIDING DEFENSES; PROVIDING FOR ENFORCEMENT BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT; PROVIDING FOR WAIVER BY MUNICIPAL COURT OF JURISDICTION OF A MINOR WHEN REQUIRED BY THE TEXAS FAMILY CODE; PROVIDING THAT THE ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE OF ALL ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FORA PENALTY FOR VIOLATIONS; PROVIDING FOR A CITY SECRETARY’S REPORT, CITY COUNCIL REVIEW AND SUNSET; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN A PAMPHLET FORM; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City of Rising Star is a Type A general-law municipality, created in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 of the Local Government Code and operating pursuant to the enabling legislation of the State of Texas; and
WHEREAS, the City Council determined that there has been an increase in juvenile violence and crime by persons under the age of 17 in the City of Rising Star; and
WHEREAS, person under the age of 17 are particularly susceptible by their lack of maturity and experience to participate in unlawful activities; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that it is in the best interests of the health and welfare of its citizens to adopt this ordinance
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RISING STAR, TEXAS:
SECTION I DEFINITIONS
(A) Definitions in this section:..
(1) Curfew Hours means:
(a) 11:00p.m. on any Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday until 6:00 m. of the following day; and
(b) 12:01 a.m. until 6:00 m. on any Friday or Saturday.
(2) Emergency means any unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. The term includes, but
is not limited to a fire, a natural disaster, an automobile accident, or any situation requiring immediate action to prevent serious bodily injury or
loss of life.
(3) Establishment means any privately-owned place of business operated for a profit to which the public is invited, including but not limited to
any place of amusement or entertainm
(4) Guardian means:
(a) A person who, under court order, is the guardian of the person of a m111or; or
(b) A public or private agency with whom a minor has been placed by a court.
(5) Minor means any person less than seventeen (17) years of
(6) Officer means a police officer, City marshal or deputy City marshal.
(7) Operator means any individual, firm, association, partnership, or corporation operating, managing, or conducting any The term includes the
members or partners of an association or partnership and the officers of a corporation.
(8) Parent means a person who is:
(a) A natural parent, adoptive parent, or step-parent of another person; or
(b) At least eighteen (18) years of age and authorized by a parent or guardian to have the care and custody of a minor.
(9) Public place means any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets,
highways, and the common areas of schools, hospital, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and
(10) Remain means to:
(a) Linger or stay; or
(b) Fail to leave premises when requested to do so by an officer or the owner, operator, or other person in control of the premises.
(11) Serious bodily injury means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serous permanent disfiguration, or
protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
SECTION 2 OFFENSES
(1) A minor commits an offense if he remains in any public places or on the premises of any establishment within the City during curfew hours.
(2) A parent or guardian of a minor commits an offense if he knowingly permits, or by insufficient control, allows the minor to remain in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within the City during curfew hours.
(3) The owner, operator, or any employee of an establishment commits an offense if he knowingly allows a minor to remain upon the premises of the establishment during curfew hours.
SECTION 3 DEFENSES
(1) It is a defense to prosecution under Section 2 that the minor was:
(A) Accompanied by the minor’s parent or guardian:
(B) On an errand at the direction of the minor’s parent or guardian, without any detour or stop:
(C) In a motor vehicle involved in interstate travel;
(D) Engaged in an employment activity, or going to or returning home from an employment activity, without any detom or stop;
(E) Involved in an emergency;
(F) On the sidewalk abutting the minor’s residence or abutting the residence of a next-door neighbor if the neighbor did not complain to the
Police Department or marshal’s office about the minor’s presence;
(G) Attending an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults sponsored by the City of Rising Star, a civic
organization, or another similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor, or going to or returning home without any detour or stop, an official
school, religious, or other recreational activity sponsored by the City of Rising Star, a civic organization, or similar entity that takes responsibility
for the minor;
(H) Exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, such as exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and the right
of assembly; or
(I) Married or had been married or had disabilities of minority removed in accordance with Chapter 31 of the Texas Family Code.
(2) It is a defense to prosecution under Section 2, paragraph (3) that the owner, operator, or employee of an establishment promptly notified the police department or marshal’s office that a minor was present on the premises of the establishment during curfew hours and refused to leave.
SECTION 4 ENFORCEMEMT
(A) Before taking any enforcement action under this section, an officer shall ask the apparent offender’s age and rea on for being in the public place. The officer shall not issue a citation or make an arrest under this section unless the officer reasonably believes that an offense has occurred and that, based on any response and other circumstances, no defense in Section 3 is present.
(B) When required by Section 51 .08 of the Texas Family Code, as amended, the municipal court hall original jurisdiction over a minor who violates Section 2, paragraph (1) of this ordinance and shall refer the minor to juvenile court.
SECTION 5
This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances of the City of Rising Star, Texas, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinance, in which event the conflicting provisions of such ordinances are hereby repealed.
SECTION 6
It is hereby declared to be the intension of the City Council that the phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
SECTION 7
A person who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a separate offense for each day or part of a day during which the violation is committed, continued, or permitted. Each offense, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00),
SECTION 8
(A) City Secretary’s Before the third anniversary of the date of adoption of this section, the City secretary shall review this section, repo11 to the City Council, and make recommendations concerning the effectiveness of and need for this section. The City Secretary’s report shall specifically include the following information:
(1) The practicality of enforcing this section and any problems with enforcement identified by the police department;
(2) The impact of this section on crime statistics;
(3) The number of persons successfully prosecuted for a violation of this section; and
(4) The City’s net cost of enforcing this section.
(B) City Council review. Before the third anniversary of the date of adoption of this section, and every third year thereafter, the City Council shall:
(1) Review the section’s effects on the community and on the problems the section was intended to remedy;
(2) Conduct public hearings on the need to continue the section; and
(3) Abolish, continue or modify the section.
(C) Sunset provision. Failure by the City Council to act in accordance with paragraph (B)(1) – (3) shall cause this section to expire.
SECTION 9
The City Secretary of the City of Rising Star is hereby authorized to publish this ordinance in book or pamphlet form for general distribution among the public, and the operative provisions of this ordinance as so published shall be admissible in evidence in all courts without further proof than the production thereof.
SECTION 10
The City Secretary of the City of Rising Star is hereby directed to publish in the official newspaper of the City of Rising Star, the caption, the penalty clause and the effective date clause of this ordinance as authorized by Section 52.01 1 of the Local Government Code.
SECTION 11
This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and publication as required by law and is so ordained.
PASSED AND APPROVED this 13th day of July, 2017.
September 9, 2021
This Ordinance renewed.
PASSED AND APPROVED RENEWAL this 9th day of September, 2021.
