83R3227 TJB-D
By: Callegari H.B. No. 1477
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a court order to disannex an area from a municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 43.141(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) If the governing body fails or refuses to disannex the
area within 60 days after the date of the receipt of the petition,
any one or more of the signers of the petition may bring a cause of
action in a district court of the county in which the area is
principally located to request that the area be disannexed. On the
filing of an answer by the governing body, and on application of
either party, the case shall be advanced and heard without further
delay in accordance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The
district court shall enter an order disannexing the area if the
court finds that a valid petition was filed with the municipality
and that the municipality failed to perform its obligations in
accordance with the service plan or with the provisions of Section
43.056 [failed to perform in good faith].
SECTION 2. The change in law made by Section 43.141(b),
Local Government Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to a
cause of action relating to a petition submitted as provided by
Section 43.141(a), Local Government Code, to the governing body of
a municipality on or after the effective date of this Act. A cause
of action relating to a petition submitted before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
petition was submitted, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 3. 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, 2013.