Texas City, TX Noise from Specific Sources: Low-Frequency Bass Limits (2026)

Texas City regulates bass from car stereos in the traffic code, not the noise chapter. Section 70.11 of the Texas City Code of Ordinances provides that no person operating or occupying a motor vehicle on a street, highway, alley, parking lot or driveway, whether public or private property, shall operate or permit the operation of any sound amplification system from within the vehicle so that the sound is plainly audible at a distance of 50 or more feet from the vehicle. The words permit the operation matter: a passenger who runs the system, and a driver who lets it run, are both within the rule.

The code defines a sound amplification system as any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loud speaker or other electronic device used for the amplification of sound. Plainly audible means any sound produced by the system from within the vehicle which clearly can be heard at a distance of 50 feet or more. Measurement is by the auditory senses, based on direct line of sight, so no meter is required. Words or phrases need not be discernable and bass reverberations are included, which is the low-frequency provision: an officer standing 50 feet away who can hear the thump has enough. The vehicle can be stopped, standing, parked or moving, on public or private property, so a parked car in a shopping center lot is covered.

Section 70.11(D) creates affirmative defenses when the operator was not otherwise prohibited by law from operating the system and one of the listed circumstances applies: requesting medical or vehicular assistance or warning of a hazardous road condition, an emergency or public safety vehicle, a vehicle owned and operated by a public utility company including the city, use in an authorized public activity approved by the City Commission or a city department, or a mechanical loudspeaker/amplifier permit obtained pursuant to § 94.009.

Bass from a home or business is handled under § 94.009, which prints no decibel limit.