By: Dean (Senate Sponsor - Hughes) H.B. No. 3203 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2019; May 10, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental Relations; May 17, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 17, 2019, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the division of certain emergency services districts. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 775.221, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 775.221. AUTHORITY TO DIVIDE DISTRICT. (a) This subchapter applies only to a district located wholly in: (1) a county with a population of 20,000 or less; or (2) a county with a population of more than 30,000 but less than 41,000 that is adjacent to a county with a population of more than 200,000 but less than 220,000. (b) The board of a district described by Subsection (a) [located wholly in one county with a population of 20,000 or less] may create a new district by disannexing territory from the existing district and ordering a new district to be created in the disannexed territory in the manner provided by this subchapter. SECTION 2. Section 775.223(c), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: (c) The [If the board finds that the petition contains the number of signatures required under Section 775.222(a), the] board shall approve the petition not later than the 10th day after the date of the hearing if the board finds that: (1) the petition contains the number of signatures required under Section 775.222(a); and (2) the proposed division is feasible. SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section 775.223(c), Health and Safety Code, applies only to the division of an emergency services district the petition for which is submitted on or after the effective date of this Act. The division of an emergency services district the petition for which is submitted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the petition is submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. * * * * *