A person who violates this subchapter or a rule under it owes a civil penalty of at least $50 per affected person per day.
Sec. 2306.933. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates this subchapter or a rule adopted under this subchapter is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $50 for each person occupying the migrant labor housing facility in violation of this subchapter for each day that the violation occurs. (b) An action to collect a civil penalty under this section may be brought by: (1) the department through the contested case hearing process described by Section 2306.930(b); (2) the county attorney for the county in which the violation occurred, or the attorney general, at the request of the department; or (3) a migrant agricultural worker if: (A) a complaint regarding the violation for which the civil penalty is sought has been submitted under Section 2306.934; and (B) at the time the complaint described by Paragraph (A) is submitted, the worker: (i) lives in the migrant labor housing facility that is the subject of the complaint; and (ii) is not temporarily in the United States under an H-2A visa authorized by 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a). (c) An action to collect a civil penalty under this section may not be brought while: (1) a contested case hearing brought by the department under Section 2306.930(b) and relating to the same migrant labor housing facility is pending; (2) an action for injunctive relief relating to the same violation is pending under Section 2306.932; (3) an action brought by a county attorney or the attorney general and relating to the same migrant labor housing facility is pending; or (4) the operator of the migrant labor housing facility that is the subject of the action is: (A) waiting for the facility to be inspected under Section 2306.935(c) to confirm remediation of the violation that is the subject of the action; or (B) providing housing at a facility under Section 2306.936(d) to which the migrant agricultural workers who occupied the facility that is the subject of the action have been relocated. (d) A civil penalty under this section begins accruing on the earlier of: (1) for a violation with a remediation period described by Section 2306.935, the day that: (A) the department determines based on information submitted under Section 2306.935(b) that the operator has failed to remedy the violation; or (B) an inspection described by Section 2306.935(c) establishes that the migrant housing facility operator has failed to remedy the violation; or (2) for a violation with a remediation period described by Section 2306.936, the 31st day following the date that notification of the complaint is received from the department, unless the operator has relocated under Section 2306.936(d) the migrant agricultural workers who occupied the facility that is the subject of the complaint. (e) The department by rule shall adopt a penalty schedule that increases the amount of the penalty assessed against a person who repeatedly violates this subchapter or rules adopted under this subchapter. (f) A penalty collected under Subsection (b)(1) or (2) shall be deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund and may be appropriated only to the department for the enforcement of this subchapter. Transferred from Health and Safety Code, Chapter 147 and amended by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 60 (H.B. 1099), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005. Amended by: Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 695 (S.B. 243), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025.