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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 11167ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE REVISING AND AMENDING SECTION 17-96 AND SUBSECTION (a) OF 17-98 OF ARTICLE III, DIVISION 4, "FAIR HOUSING", OF CHAPTER 17, "HUMAN RELATIONS", OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (1986), AS AMENDED, PROVIDING FOR THE ELECTION OF A STATE COURT REMEDY IN LIEU OF A COMMITTEE HEARING; PROVIDING APPRO- PRIATE PROCEDURES FOR THE EXERCISE OF SAID ELECTION; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. A. Section 17-96 of Article III, Division 4, "Fair Housing", of Chapter 17, "Human Relations", is hereby revised and amended and, after said revision and amendment, shall read as follows: Sec. 17-96. Referral of complaint to hearing; elec- tion of court proceeding; reasonable cause determination and charge. (a) Upon completion of the investigation and informal endeavors at conciliation by the administrator, but within 100 days of the filing of the complaint with the administrator and if conciliation has not been effected, the administrator may refer the matter com- plained of to the committee, together with the answer of the respondent, if any, and a full report of his/her investigation and activities in the matter. (b) In lieu of a hearing before the committee as set out in Section 17-96(c) below, a complainant, respondent or an aggrieved person on whose behalf a charge is filed, may elect in writing to have the claims asserted in the complaint decided in State District Court provided in Section 17-98 of this Code or as provided for under Article II, Sections 2.06 and 2.08 of the Texas Fair Housing Act (Vernon's Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. Art. lf, as amended) and Chapter 337 of the Texas Commission on Human Rights Procedural Rules. This election may be made at any reasonable time under the foregoing laws but must be made not later than 20 days after the receipt by the electing person of notice that a hearing under Section 17-96(c) has been requested. (c) The committee shall order a hearing if respon- dent or complainant requests same. If respondent or complainant does not request a hearing, same shall be deemed to have been waived and the committee shall direct the administrator to issue a determination of reasonable cause and a charge, if it finds the prepon- derance of the credible evidence so warrants. (d) The commission shall adopt rules and pro- cedures for the conduct of hearings. the hearing panel shall be appointed by the commission chair and include members of the human relations commission in whole or in part. Reasonable notice and opportunity for discovery shall be given to all parties. the hearing shall be conducted in n fair and impartial manner and shall be public as required by Article 6252-17 of the Revised Civil Statutes. Witnesses appearing at such hearing may be required to present testimony under oath or by solemn affirmation. Evidence of the matter alleged within the complaint may be presented by the City Attorney or his assistant. the complaint and the person or persons alleged to have committed or to be about to commit the discriminatory housing practice may appear personally or by representative and with or without counsel and shall have the right to present proof and cross-examine wit- nesses in all matters relating to the complaint and subsequent related matters. If a person or persons alleged to have committed or to be about to commit a discriminatory housing practice shall fail to appear at the committee hearing either personally or by represen- tative after notice as provided above, then such hearing shall be deemed waived by such person or persons. (e) The hearing panel shall make such findings as a majority of its members deem are supported by the preponderance of the. credible evidence. Such findings shall be in writing and shall be forwarded to the admin- istrator together with the hearing panel's determination that reasonable cause or no reasonable cause exists to believe that a discriminatory housing practice has been committed . (f) A charge shall be issued by the administrator upon a panel finding of reasonable cause and: (1) shall consist of a short and plain written statement of the facts upon which the commit- tee has found reasonable cause to believe 2 that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred; (2) shall be based on the final investigative report; the evidence adduced at the hearing, if any; and (3) need not be limited to the facts or ground alleged in the complaint filed with the com- mission under this division. (g) Any charge issued by the administrator will be forwarded within 10 days to the City Attorney for action as hereinafter provided. Copies of the charge will be served on the complainant, the aggrieved person, if different from the complainant, and any respondents. (h) The administrator may not issue a charge and the City Attorney may not bring or maintain a civil action in state district court for an alleged discrimi- natory housing practice after the aggrieved person has brought a civil action under local, state, or federal law seeking relief for the alleged discriminatory housing practice and the trial in the actin has begun. If a charge may not be issued by the administrator or a civil action may not be brought or maintained by the City Attorney because of the trial of a civil action brought by the aggrieved party, the administrator shall notify the complainant, the aggrieved person, if dif- ferent from the complainant, and any respondents in writing. B. Subsection (a) of Section 17-98 of Article III, Division 4, "Fair Housing", of Chapter 17, "Human Relations", is hereby amended and, after said amendment, shall read as follows: (a) If a respondent has been found by the adminis- trator and the City Attorney to have breached an exe- cuted conciliation agreement or if the administrator has issued a charge, or if a party has elected under Section 17-96(b) to have the claims raised by the com- plaint resolved in court, the City Attorney, upon the request of the administrator, shall initiate and main- tain a civil action on behalf of the aggrieved person in the state district court seeking relief under this division. Venue is in Tarrant County, Texas. 3 .:° SECTION 2. This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986), as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordi- nances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 3. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any phrase, clause, sen- tence, 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 4. All rights and remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of the provisions of i Ordinance No. 0 or any other ordinances affecting j1,u,~r. V,~~ which have accrued at the time of the effective date of this ordinance; and, as to such accrued violations and all pending litigation, both civil and criminal, whether pending in court or 4 not, under such ordinances, same shall not be affected by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts. SECTION 5. This ordinance shall take effect and be in full force and effect from and after its passage, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: 'C`" ~ ~~,,~ity ttorney "~ Date: 2~'~,t 149Z ADOPTED : 9`- -- EFFECTIVE :_9--~~i 5 ifASl'ER FILE 1! ACCOUNTING 2 ~ ~ O~RANSPORTATION~PUeUC wORK3=1• City of F~ ~ortl~ Texas LA1~ iAOMINIS'TRATi6 uy~,, uy~d ~~y~,~,ir Communicati~~n F.aE AoMI n~~Tr~N L 09/08/92 REFERE E UMBER G-9825 L NAM 07HOUS P E 1 of 2 POLICE AD IJIU~JLI.I ~ SUBSTANTIAL E DIVALENCY AMENDMENT FOR THE HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION TyIUNICIPA COURT AU MIN-1' v,~. RECOMMENDATION: Its recommended that the City Council adgptr,the attached ordinance amending the Fair ,Housing„Division of the Human Relations Chapter `of the City Code to provide. rights ,,, r,~.,,,,,F..,,_.procedures and remedies to victims of housing discrimination which are substantial..ly„ equivalent to those provided under federal and state fair housing laws Y DISCUSSION. - a. , In April 1988, the federal government passed the Fair Housing Amendments Act which ,expanded protected catego.r_ies to_include familial status and disability, expanded the administrative procedures for processing ho.asing„complaints, and enlarged the remedies available to charging parties. A,part,of the Fair Hausi~ng ,Amendments Act required' agencies like the Fort Worth Relations Commission (the Commission), which had previously been certified as substantially equivalent, to be recertified in order to continue their contractual arrangement with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In order for the Commission to maintain its equivalency status, HUD procedures required that• the local ordinance contain familial status and disability as protected categories, have administrative procedures for complainants to select from, and have the ability to impose penalties up to $50,000 00 per occurrence for violations. Although the City passed amendments to the Fair Housing Ordinance in December 1990, and April 1992 and subsequently added optional administrative procedures, the penalties could not be imposed until there was a change in state law In the summer of 1991, there were changes in state law which permitted local municipalities to utilize state law enforcement procedures and remedies, and enforce the local fair housing laws in the state courts,. either independently, or through contractual arrangements with the Texas Commission on Human Rights . -~,, ~ ~~ HUD's recent review of the FWHRC ordinance indicated that the election or ~r~m~dies from which a complainant may choose should be explicitly stated rather than~~`impl'iaed'~in-the= language of the ordinance. •~'~-~~~~---- t a t. ~ •r .~ Printed on recycled paper City of Fort Atos~h, Texas Mayor and Counncir Communication DATE 09/08/92 REFERENCE NUMBER 6-9825 LOG;, NAME 07HOUS PAGE 2 of 2 SUBJECT SUBSTANTIAL E DIVALENCY AMENDMENT FOR THE HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION The proposed ordinance, which will be submitted to HUD upon approval by the City Council, addresses the required areas and should insure that the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission will be recertified as a substantially equivalent agency. This will have the effect of retaining HRC's eligibility for HUD funding (current FY $56,000.00) for its Fair Housing work,, ~fre~...bg~,a~-isf ' ~ ~~-F~Y~-~--~°5~i'1'l~rt~a _-~Ic FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION: No immediate impact on the General Fund is anticipated. Long-term impact is contingent on .many factors such as number of complaints, HUD funding criteria, choice of remedies, etc. and is therefore impossible to predict. #s - -~ ~nert~d~ttee~ - ~i~ag--f~a~t~. - ~ it RG : j Su mated for City Manager's FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT- CITY SECRETARY Office by to ~PP~4UE® Ramon Guajardo 6140 ~~~~ ~~~~~~ Originating Department Head BS AN1E~1iD~ $~P ~ ~9~2 Alma Anderson 7534 from ~~QJ ~;rc ( For Additional Information `G~~f „ ~~rQtary of the Cit Contact y City of fort Worth, Texas Alma Anderson 7534 'r~0 'VV 6Y . ~~ Printed on recycled paper