2019S0292-1 02/27/19
By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1870
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to municipal annexation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 43.001(2) and (3), Local Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(2) "Tier 1 municipality [county]" means a
municipality [county]:
(A) with a population of less than 500,000; and
(B) that is not a municipality [county] that
contains a freshwater fisheries center operated by the Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department.
(3) "Tier 2 municipality [county]" means a
municipality [county] that[:
[(A)] is not a tier 1 municipality [county; or
[(B) is a tier 1 county in which a majority of the
registered voters of the county have approved being a tier 2 county
at an election ordered by the commissioners court on the request by
petition of a number of registered voters of the county equal to or
greater than 10 percent of the registered voters of the county].
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 43.004 to read as follows:
Sec. 43.004. PETITION FOR ELECTION ON CONSIDERATION AS TIER
2 MUNICIPALITY. (a) The registered voters of a county that
includes a tier 1 municipality may file a petition with the county
commissioners court requesting an election in the county to
determine whether the tier 1 municipality should be considered a
tier 2 municipality for the purposes of this chapter. The petition
must contain the signatures of at least 10 percent of the registered
voters of the county.
(b) A county commissioners court that receives a petition
for an election under Subsection (a) shall:
(1) verify the signatures on the petition; and
(2) order the election if the county verifies that the
petition satisfies the signature requirement under Subsection (a).
(c) If a majority of the votes cast at an election held under
Subsection (b) favor the proposition, the municipality is
considered a tier 2 municipality for the purposes of this chapter.
SECTION 3. Section 43.054(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A municipality may not annex a publicly or privately
owned area, including a strip of area following the course of a
road, highway, river, stream, or creek, unless the width of the area
at its narrowest point is at least 50 [1,000] feet.
SECTION 4. Section 43.0662, Local Government Code, is
transferred to Subchapter B, Chapter 43, Local Government Code, and
redesignated as Section 43.035, Local Government Code, to read as
follows:
Sec. 43.035 [43.0662]. AUTHORITY OF MUNICIPALITY WITH
POPULATION OF 74,000 TO 99,700 IN URBAN COUNTY TO ANNEX SMALL,
SURROUNDED GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY. (a) Notwithstanding
Subchapter C-4 or C-5, a municipality that has a population of
74,000 to 99,700, that is located wholly or partly in a county with
a population of more than 1.8 million, and that completely
surrounds and is contiguous to a general-law municipality with a
population of less than 600, may annex the general-law municipality
as provided by this section.
(b) The governing body of the smaller municipality may adopt
an ordinance ordering an election on the question of consenting to
the annexation of the smaller municipality by the larger
municipality. The governing body of the smaller municipality shall
adopt the ordinance if it receives a petition to do so signed by a
number of qualified voters of the municipality equal to at least 10
percent of the number of voters of the municipality who voted in the
most recent general election. If the ordinance ordering the
election is to be adopted as a result of a petition, the ordinance
shall be adopted within 30 days after the date the petition is
received.
(c) The ordinance ordering the election must provide for the
submission of the question at an election to be held on the first
uniform election date prescribed by Chapter 41, Election Code, that
occurs after the 30th day after the date the ordinance is adopted
and that affords enough time to hold the election in the manner
required by law.
(d) Within 10 days after the date on which the election is
held, the governing body of the smaller municipality shall canvass
the election returns and by resolution shall declare the results of
the election. If a majority of the votes received is in favor of the
annexation, the secretary of the smaller municipality or other
appropriate municipal official shall forward by certified mail to
the secretary of the larger municipality a certified copy of the
resolution.
(e) The larger municipality, within 90 days after the date
the resolution is received, must complete the annexation by
ordinance in accordance with its municipal charter or the general
laws of the state. If the annexation is not completed within the
90-day period, any annexation proceeding is void and the larger
municipality may not annex the smaller municipality under this
section. However, the failure to complete the annexation as
provided by this subsection does not prevent the smaller
municipality from holding a new election on the question to enable
the larger municipality to annex the smaller municipality as
provided by this section.
(f) If the larger municipality completes the annexation
within the prescribed period, the incorporation of the smaller
municipality is abolished. The records, public property, public
buildings, money on hand, credit accounts, and other assets of the
smaller municipality become the property of the larger municipality
and shall be turned over to the officers of that municipality. The
offices in the smaller municipality are abolished and the persons
holding those offices are not entitled to further remuneration or
compensation. All outstanding liabilities of the smaller
municipality are assumed by the larger municipality.
(g) In the annexation ordinance, the larger municipality
shall adopt, for application in the area zoned by the smaller
municipality, the identical comprehensive zoning ordinance that
the smaller municipality applied to the area at the time of the
election. Any attempted annexation of the smaller municipality
that does not include the adoption of that comprehensive zoning
ordinance is void. That comprehensive zoning ordinance may not be
repealed or amended for a period of 10 years unless the written
consent of the landowners who own at least two-thirds of the surface
land of the annexed smaller municipality is obtained.
(h) If the annexed smaller municipality has on hand any bond
funds for public improvements that are not appropriated or
contracted for, the funds shall be kept in a separate special fund
to be used only for public improvements in the area for which the
bonds were voted.
(i) On the annexation, all claims, fines, debts, or taxes
due and payable to the smaller municipality become due and payable
to the larger municipality and shall be collected by it. If taxes
for the year in which the annexation occurs have been assessed in
the smaller municipality before the annexation, the amounts
assessed remain as the amounts due and payable from the inhabitants
of the smaller municipality for that year.
(j) This section does not affect a charter provision of a
home-rule municipality. This section grants additional power to
the municipality and is cumulative of the municipal charter.
SECTION 5. Section 43.1025(c), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) The area described by Subsection (b) may be annexed
under the requirements applicable to a tier 1 [2] municipality, but
the annexation may not occur unless each municipality in whose
extraterritorial jurisdiction the area may be located:
(1) consents to the annexation; and
(2) reduces its extraterritorial jurisdiction over
the area as provided by Section 42.023.
SECTION 6. Sections 43.001(4) and (5), Local Government
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.