By: Nichols S.B. No. 732
(In the Senate - Filed February 16, 2011;
February 23, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
Intergovernmental Relations; April 4, 2011, reported favorably by
the following vote: Yeas 3, Nays 1; April 4, 2011, sent to
printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prohibition of certain regulations by a
municipality in its extraterritorial jurisdiction involving trees
and vegetation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 212.003, Local
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The governing body of a municipality by ordinance may
extend to the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality the
application of municipal ordinances adopted under Section 212.002
and other municipal ordinances relating to access to public roads
or the pumping, extraction, and use of groundwater by persons other
than retail public utilities, as defined by Section 13.002, Water
Code, for the purpose of preventing the use or contact with
groundwater that presents an actual or potential threat to human
health. However, unless otherwise authorized by state law, in its
extraterritorial jurisdiction a municipality shall not regulate:
(1) the use of any building or property for business,
industrial, residential, or other purposes;
(2) the bulk, height, or number of buildings
constructed on a particular tract of land;
(3) the size of a building that can be constructed on a
particular tract of land, including without limitation any
restriction on the ratio of building floor space to the land square
footage;
(4) the number of residential units that can be built
per acre of land; [or]
(5) the size, type, or method of construction of a
water or wastewater facility that can be constructed to serve a
developed tract of land if:
(A) the facility meets the minimum standards
established for water or wastewater facilities by state and federal
regulatory entities; and
(B) the developed tract of land is:
(i) located in a county with a population of
2.8 million or more; and
(ii) served by:
(a) on-site septic systems
constructed before September 1, 2001, that fail to provide adequate
services; or
(b) on-site water wells constructed
before September 1, 2001, that fail to provide an adequate supply of
safe drinking water; or
(6) the planting, clearing, or harvesting of trees or
vegetation or other uses of trees or vegetation on a particular
tract of land.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
* * * * *