<section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-101" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="General Powers and Duties of Secretary"> <text>Notwithstanding the provisions of Title 20, Subtitle 3 of the Health - General Article, the Secretary is responsible for the general care of the sanitary interests of the people of this State.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-102" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="General Powers and Duties of Secretary"> <text>The Secretary shall investigate all nuisances that affect the public health and devise means for the control of these nuisances.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-103" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="General Powers and Duties of Secretary"> <level label="a"> <text>The Secretary may adopt rules and regulations to govern the character and location of:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Plumbing;</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Drainage;</text> </level> <level label="3"> <text>Water supply;</text> </level> <level label="4"> <text>Offensive trades; and</text> </level> <level label="5"> <text>Disposal of any waste material, including sewage or garbage.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <text>The Secretary may adopt rules and regulations to govern the sanitary condition of:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Streets;</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Cesspools;</text> </level> <level label="3"> <text>Outhouses; and</text> </level> <level label="4"> <text>Any sanitary feature connected with any of these.</text> </level> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-104" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="General Powers and Duties of Secretary"> <text>The Secretary may enter on and inspect any private property to determine whether a nuisance exists.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-105" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="1" subtitle_name="General Powers and Duties of Secretary"> <text>The Secretary may bring an action to enjoin any person from committing any nuisance subject to this title.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-201" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="2" subtitle_name="Nuisance Abatement"> <level label="a"> <text>The health officer for each county:</text> <level label="1"> <text>May investigate any condition in the county that is dangerous to human health; and</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Shall investigate and report on the sanitary conditions of schools, places of business, and places of employment in the county.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <text>Except in Baltimore County, on the written complaint of a physician or of at least 2 persons who claim to be affected by the condition, the health officer for the county where the condition allegedly exists immediately shall investigate any complaint that any of the following is in a condition dangerous to human health:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Any watercourse, well, spring, open ditch, gutter, cesspool, drain, outhouse, pigpen, or other place.</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Any accumulation or deposit of any substance.</text> </level> </level> <level label="c"> <text>If the health officer finds that the condition of the place or thing investigated may injure the life or health of any person, the place or thing is in a state of nuisance and the health officer shall serve a written notice to the person who is causing the nuisance, ordering the person to abate the nuisance within a time specified in the notice.</text> </level> <level label="d"> <text>A person may not refuse or neglect to comply with the requirements of a notice served under this section.</text> </level> <level label="e"> <text>If a question arises between health officers as to the jurisdiction or duties of a health officer in the abatement of any unhealthy nuisance, the question shall be referred to the Secretary, who shall settle the question.</text> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-202" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="2" subtitle_name="Nuisance Abatement"> <level label="a"> <text>On the written complaint of 2 physicians or of at least 3 persons who claim to be affected by the condition, the Secretary shall investigate any complaint that any of the following is in a condition that injures any adjacent property or that is dangerous to human health:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Any watercourse, well, spring, open ditch, gutter, cesspool, drain, outhouse, pigpen, or other place.</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Any accumulation or deposit of offensive or noxious matter.</text> </level> <level label="3"> <text>Any house, building, trades establishment, or manufacturing place.</text> </level> <level label="4"> <text>Any water in which mosquito larvae breed.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <level label="1"> <text>If the Secretary finds that the condition of the place or thing investigated may injure any adjacent property or may injure the life or health of any individual, the place or thing is in a state of nuisance and the Secretary shall serve a written notice to the person who is causing the nuisance, ordering the person to abate the nuisance within a time specified in the notice.</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The notice shall be served:</text> <level label="i"> <text>On the person who is causing the nuisance; or</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>If the person who is causing the nuisance cannot be found, on the owner or occupant of the property where the nuisance exists.</text> </level> </level> </level> <level label="c"> <level label="1"> <text>The Secretary may file a complaint in the circuit court for the county where the nuisance exists if:</text> <level label="i"> <text>The person served with the notice fails to comply with the requirements of the notice; or</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>Although the person served complies with the requirements of the notice, the nuisance is likely to recur on the same property.</text> </level> </level> <level label="2"> <text>A complaint filed under this subsection may seek a court order requiring the person served with the notice to do any or all of the following:</text> <level label="i"> <text>To comply with the requirements of the Secretary’s abatement notice.</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>To abate the nuisance within a time specified in the order.</text> </level> <level label="iii"> <text>To prevent the nuisance from recurring.</text> </level> </level> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-203" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="2" subtitle_name="Nuisance Abatement"> <level label="a"> <level label="1"> <text>If, after investigation, the Secretary finds that any of the following conditions exists, the place or thing as to which the condition exists is in a state of nuisance:</text> <level label="i"> <text>The contents overflow or leak from an outhouse, a water closet, a septic tank, or a cesspool and present a hazard to public health.</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>An outhouse, a water closet, or a cesspool is not flytight and watertight and presents a hazard to public health.</text> </level> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The Secretary summarily may abate any condition that is in a state of nuisance under this subsection.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <text>Before summarily abating a nuisance under this section, the Secretary shall:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Serve an abatement order on the owner of the property where the nuisance exists or, if the owner cannot be found, on the occupant or tenant of the property; or</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>If the property is unoccupied and the owner cannot be found, attach an abatement order to the property where the nuisance exists.</text> </level> </level> <level label="c"> <level label="1"> <text>The abatement order shall require and state:</text> <level label="i"> <text>A time period within which the owner, occupant, or tenant of the property where the nuisance exists shall abate the nuisance; and</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>The work and materials necessary to abate the nuisance.</text> </level> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The time period within which to abate the nuisance may not be less than 24 hours nor more than 5 days from the date and hour that the order is served.</text> </level> </level> <level label="d"> <level label="1"> <text>If the owner, occupant, or tenant served with an abatement order fails to abate or only partially abates the nuisance within the time specified in the order, the Secretary or a representative of the Secretary shall:</text> <level label="i"> <text>Enter on the property; and</text> </level> <level label="ii"> <text>At the expense of the owner, occupant, or tenant of the property, do any work and use any materials necessary to abate the nuisance.</text> </level> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The Secretary may not expend more than $500 to abate the nuisance.</text> </level> </level> <level label="e"> <text>If, within 60 days after the Secretary has completed an abatement under this section, the owner, occupant, or tenant does not pay to the Secretary the cost of the abatement, the Secretary shall file suit against the owner, occupant, or tenant in the district court for the county where the nuisance was abated.</text> </level> <level label="f"> <text>A person may not:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Interfere with the Secretary or a representative of the Secretary summarily abating a nuisance under this section; or</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Refuse to allow the Secretary or a representative of the Secretary to enter on any property for the purpose of summarily abating a nuisance under this section.</text> </level> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-301" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Prohibited Acts; Penalties"> <text>A person who refuses or neglects to comply with the requirements of a notice served under § 10-201 of this title is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $50.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-302" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Prohibited Acts; Penalties"> <level label="a"> <text>A person who fails to exercise due diligence under a court order to abate a condition under § 10-202 of this title is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to:</text> <level label="1"> <text>A fine not exceeding $10 for each day the condition is not abated; and</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The cost of prosecution.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <text>A person who knowingly or willfully acts contrary to a court order to abate a condition under § 10-202 of this title is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to:</text> <level label="1"> <text>A fine not exceeding $20 for each day the violation continues; and</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>The cost of prosecution.</text> </level> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-303" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Prohibited Acts; Penalties"> <text>In addition to any other penalty provided by law, a person is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment not exceeding 30 days or both, if the person:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Interferes with the Secretary or a representative of the Secretary summarily abating a nuisance under § 10-203 of this title; or</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Refuses to allow the Secretary or a representative of the Secretary to enter on any property for the purpose of summarily abating a nuisance under § 10-203 of this title.</text> </level> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-304" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Prohibited Acts; Penalties"> <text>A person who violates any rule or regulation that the Secretary adopts under Subtitle 1 of this title is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine for each offense not exceeding the lesser of the penalty provided by the rule or regulation or $100.</text> </section> <section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="10-305" title_number="10" title_name="Nuisance Control" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Prohibited Acts; Penalties"> <level label="a"> <text>In this section, “nuisance” includes:</text> <level label="1"> <text>Any condition that is dangerous to health or safety, such as an inadequately protected swimming pool or ditch;</text> </level> <level label="2"> <text>Any condition that may adversely affect the public health, such as an unsanitary outhouse, a foul pigpen, an improperly functioning sewage system, an unkempt junkyard, an unkempt scrap metal processing facility, an excessive accumulation of trash or garbage, dead animals, a contaminated water supply, an inadequately protected water supply, or a rat harborage;</text> </level> <level label="3"> <text>Housekeeping in any building that is so poor that the health of the owner, occupants, employees, or neighbors may be endangered; and</text> </level> <level label="4"> <text>Any condition that may endanger health through the spreading of the condition by any means, including by streams, surface drainage, air currents, winged life, domestic animals, or human beings.</text> </level> </level> <level label="b"> <text>In Cecil County or Allegany County, in addition to any other penalty imposed by this subtitle, a person who refuses or neglects to comply with a notice or order to abate a nuisance by the Secretary, or by the health officer for the county where the nuisance exists, is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $100 a day for each day the violation continues.</text> </level> </section>