87R14159 TYPED
By: Biedermann H.B. No. 3883
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to development regulations for certain unincorporated
areas located within the Hill Country Priority Groundwater
Management Area; authorizing a fee; authorizing a civil penalty;
creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 231, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter N to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER N. DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS IN COUNTIES LOCATED WITHIN
HILL COUNTRY PRIORITY GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AREA 9
Sec. 231.301. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Hill Country Priority Groundwater Management
Area" means the area that the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality designated as the Hill Country Priority Groundwater
Management Area under Section 35.008, Water Code, as that area
existed on January 1, 2021.
(2) "Infrastructure" includes facilities for:
(A) water supply, treatment, and distribution;
(B) wastewater collection and treatment;
(C) stormwater, drainage, and flood control; and
(D) roadways.
(3) "Infrastructure cost recovery fee" means a fee
imposed by a county on the owner of property undergoing new
development to pay for or recover costs of the county for
improvements to infrastructure necessary to serve new development.
(4) "New development" means an activity that increases
the number of service units on property, including:
(A) the subdivision of land; or
(B) any use or extension of the use of land.
(5) "Service unit" means a standardized measure of
consumption, use, generation, or discharge attributable to an
individual unit of development calculated in accordance with
generally accepted engineering or planning standards and based on
historical data and trends for the preceding 10 years applicable to
the county in which the individual unit of development is located.
Sec. 231.302. LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS IN
UNINCORPORATED AREA. The commissioners court of a county that has
unincorporated area located in the Hill Country Priority
Groundwater Management Area by order may adopt and impose in that
unincorporated area:
(1) reasonable lot size restrictions;
(2) requirements that the supplier of water to a
proposed subdivision be contractually obligated to provide a
sufficient supply of water to adequately serve the residents of the
proposed subdivision during normal and drought conditions;
(3) an infrastructure cost recovery fee; and
(4) reasonable standards for minimum lot frontages on
all proposed and existing roads.
Sec. 231.303. ELECTION TO APPROVE REGULATORY AUTHORITY
REQUIRED. (a) Regulatory authority granted under Section 231.302
is not effective until the authority is approved by a majority of
the county residents voting in an election held under this section.
(b) County residents voting in an election held under this
section:
(1) may approve of the entire regulatory authority
granted under Section 231.302; or
(2) may approve specific regulatory authority granted
under Section 231.302 without approving other specific regulatory
authority granted under that section.
(c) The commissioners court of a county located in the Hill
Country Priority Groundwater Management Area:
(1) shall order and hold an election in the county to
approve the grant of regulatory authority if the commissioners
court receives a petition requesting the election signed by
registered voters of the county in a number equal to or greater than
20 percent of the number of votes received by all candidates for
governor in the county in the most recent gubernatorial election.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 277.002, Election Code:
(1) a petition must include each signer's zip code with
the signer's residence address; and
(2) a signature is not considered valid if the date of
signing is before the 90th day before the date the petition is filed
with the commissioners court.
(e) Not later than the fifth day after the date a petition is
received by the commissioners court, the county judge shall submit
the petition for verification to the county clerk. The county clerk
shall determine whether the petition meets the requirements
prescribed by this section and Section 277.002, Election Code. Not
later than the 30th day after the date the petition is submitted to
the county clerk for verification, the county clerk shall certify
in writing to the commissioners court whether the petition is
valid. If the county clerk determines that the petition is invalid,
the county clerk shall state the reasons for that determination.
(f) If the county clerk certifies that a petition is valid,
the commissioners court shall order the election to be held on the
first November uniform election date authorized by Section 41.001,
Election Code, that occurs after the date the court receives the
county clerk's certification and that provides sufficient time to
comply with other requirements of law.
(g) The ballot for an election under this section shall be
prepared to permit voting for or against the proposition:
"Approving the authority granted to the Commissioners Court of
(name of county) to regulate land development in (insert
description of the area subject to regulation)." The ballot shall
be prepared to permit voting for or against the grants of regulatory
authority proposed in the commissioners court motion under
Subsection (c)(1) or the petition filed with the commissioners
court under Subsection (c)(2), as applicable.
(h) The approval authority granted under this section
includes the authority to repeal, revise, or amend a previous
decision to operate under this subchapter.
Sec. 231.304. COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
PLANS. Development regulations must be:
(1) adopted in accordance with:
(A) any county plan for growth and development of
the county if a county plan has been adopted by the commissioners
court; and
(B) any desired future conditions, as that term
is defined by Section 36.001, Water Code, developed by groundwater
conservation districts located in the county; and
(2) coordinated with:
(A) the comprehensive plans of municipalities
located in the county; and
(B) the comprehensive plans of groundwater
conservation districts located in the county.
Sec. 231.305. PROCEDURES GOVERNING ADOPTION OF
REGULATIONS. (a) A development regulation adopted under this
subchapter is not effective until the regulation is adopted by the
commissioners court of the county after a public hearing. Before
the 15th day before the date of the hearing, the commissioners court
must publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general
circulation in the county.
(b) The commissioners court may establish or amend a
development regulation only by an order passed by a majority vote of
the full membership of the court.
Sec. 231.306. DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION. (a) The
commissioners court of a county authorized under this subchapter to
impose development regulations may appoint a development
commission to assist in the implementation and enforcement of the
regulations.
(b) The development commission must consist of:
(1) an ex officio chair who must be a public official,
other than a county commissioner, in the county; and
(2) four additional members who are all residents of
the county.
(c) The development commission is advisory only and may
recommend appropriate development regulations for the county.
(d) The members of the development commission are subject to
the same requirements relating to conflicts of interest that are
applicable to the commissioners court under Chapter 171.
Sec. 231.307. SPECIAL EXCEPTION. (a) A person aggrieved by
a development regulation adopted under this subchapter may petition
the commissioners court of the county that adopted the regulation
or the development commission, if the commissioners court has
established a development commission, for a special exception to
the development regulation.
(b) The commissioners court of each county that exercises
the authority granted by this subchapter shall adopt procedures
governing applications, notice, hearings, and other matters
relating to the grant of a special exception.
Sec. 231.308. COOPERATION WITH OTHER POLITICAL
SUBDIVISIONS. The commissioners court of a county authorized under
this subchapter to impose development regulations:
(1) may enter into agreements with any municipality
located in the county to assist in the implementation and
enforcement of the regulations; and
(2) shall enter into agreements with any groundwater
conservation district located in the county to assist in the
implementation and enforcement of the regulations.
Sec. 231.309. LOT SIZE RESTRICTIONS IN CERTAIN AREAS. Lot
size restrictions authorized under this subchapter that apply in
subdivisions served by a public water supply system that uses water
from the Trinity Aquifer must be adopted and imposed in accordance
with any desired future conditions adopted under Chapter 36, Water
Code, by a groundwater conservation district in which the
subdivision is wholly or partly located.
Sec. 231.310. INFRASTRUCTURE COST RECOVERY FEE. (a) The
commissioners court of a county may be authorized under this
subchapter to impose an infrastructure cost recovery fee to provide
necessary infrastructure to serve new development in the
unincorporated area of the county only as provided by this section
and Sections 231.311 and 231.312.
(b) A county may impose an infrastructure cost recovery fee
under this section only to pay for or recover the costs of
constructing, acquiring, or expanding infrastructure necessary to
serve new development. The fee may not be:
(1) applied to infrastructure improvements that do not
serve the new development or to which the new development does not
have access; or
(2) imposed to pay for:
(A) repairing, operating, or maintaining
existing or new infrastructure improvements, including
infrastructure improvements that were constructed, acquired, or
expanded as necessary to serve new development; or
(B) upgrading, replacing, or expanding existing
development to meet stricter safety, efficiency, environmental, or
regulatory standards.
(c) Before a county may impose an infrastructure cost
recovery fee to recover costs of roadway improvements, the county
must prepare an infrastructure development plan. The plan must
include a road traffic study conducted by a qualified engineer. The
county may not impose the fee to recover costs of roadway
improvements unless the road traffic study projects a minimum of a
25 percent increase in road traffic attributable to the new
development.
(d) Any interest earned on an infrastructure cost recovery
fee is considered part of the fee and is subject to the same
restrictions under this section.
(e) A county may assess an infrastructure cost recovery fee
before or at the time a subdivision plat is recorded. The fee may be
collected at the time the county issues a building permit or a
certificate of occupancy, unless the county and the owner of the
development enter into an agreed payment plan.
(f) A county may reduce or waive the assessment of an
infrastructure cost recovery fee if the new development qualifies
as affordable housing under 42 U.S.C. Section 12745.
(g) After an infrastructure cost recovery fee has been
assessed, the fee may not be increased unless additional service
units are added. If additional service units are added, the fee may
be assessed only at a rate that reflects the cost per service unit
of the total fee originally imposed.
(h) The infrastructure improvement for which an
infrastructure cost recovery fee is imposed must be completed not
later than the first anniversary of the date the fee is paid. The
time prescribed for completion may be extended by a majority vote of
the commissioners court if the commissioners court makes a finding
that the infrastructure improvement is exceptionally complicated
or intensive and reasonably requires additional time. An extension
granted under this subsection may not exceed the second anniversary
of the date the fee is paid. Any portion of the fee that remains
after the time prescribed expires shall be refunded to the owner of
the development. To the extent an agreement between the owner of
new development and the county conflicts with this subsection, the
agreement prevails.
Sec. 231.311. PROCEDURES FOR ASSESSING INFRASTRUCTURE COST
RECOVERY FEES. (a) On or before the date of publication of notice
of a public hearing under Section 231.305 to consider the
imposition of an infrastructure cost recovery fee, the
commissioners court shall make available to the public a
description of any proposed infrastructure improvements and a
description of the proposed fee.
(b) On or before the 30th day before the date of the hearing,
the commissioners court shall:
(1) publish notice of the hearing in at least one
newspaper of general circulation in the county; and
(2) send written notice by certified mail to the owner
of new development for which a fee is proposed.
(c) The notice under Subsection (b)(1) shall include:
(1) a relevant heading;
(2) the time, date, and location for the hearing;
(3) a statement that the hearing is open to public
comment; and
(4) a general statement of the subject matter of the
hearing.
(d) Not later than the 30th day after the date of the public
hearing, the commissioners court by order shall adopt or reject the
proposed assessment of the fee. An order approving the assessment
of the fee may not be adopted as an emergency measure.
Sec. 231.312. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE REQUIRED; CIVIL
PENALTY. (a) The commissioners court of a county that imposes an
infrastructure improvement cost recovery fee under this subchapter
shall submit a written certification verifying compliance with this
subchapter to the attorney general each year not later than the last
day of the county's fiscal year. The certification must be signed
by the county judge.
(b) A county that fails to submit a certification for a
fiscal year as required by this section is liable to the state for a
civil penalty in an amount equal to 10 percent of the amount of the
fees assessed in that fiscal year. A penalty collected under this
subsection shall be deposited to the credit of the housing trust
fund.
Sec. 231.313. ENFORCEMENT; CRIMINAL OFFENSE. (a) The
commissioners court of a county authorized under this subchapter to
impose development regulations may adopt orders to enforce those
regulations.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person violates an
order or development regulation adopted under this subchapter. An
offense under this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine
of not less than $500 or more than $1,000. Each day that a violation
occurs constitutes a separate offense.
Sec. 231.314. CONFLICT WITH OTHER LAWS. If a development
regulation adopted under this subchapter imposes higher standards
than those required under another statute or local order or
regulation, the regulation adopted under this subchapter controls
in the area subject to regulation. If the other statute or local
order or regulation imposes higher standards, that statute, order,
or regulation controls.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.