By: Dean H.B. No. 3053
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the municipal disannexation of areas annexed during a
certain period of time.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 43.1463 to read as follows:
Sec. 43.1463. DISANNEXATION OF AREAS ANNEXED DURING
TRANSITION FROM NONCONSENT TO CONSENT ANNEXATION MODEL. (a) This
section applies only to an area for which annexation was finalized
between March 3, 2015, and December 1, 2017.
(b) On November 7, 2023, a municipality shall hold an
election in an area described by Subsection (a) on the question of
disannexing the area from the municipality. The municipality:
(1) may not use public money on promotional campaigns
or advocacy related to the election; and
(2) shall ensure that the ballot proposition for the
election:
(A) describes the area to be disannexed;
(B) identifies the area by the commonly used name
of the area, if applicable;
(C) identifies the entities that will provide law
enforcement, fire, and emergency services after disannexation;
(D) describes the effect of disannexation on ad
valorem taxes and fees in the area; and
(E) describes the effect of disannexation on
special districts located in the area.
(c) A municipality shall disannex an area described by
Subsection (a), including residential and commercial property in
the area, if the voters approve the disannexation in the election
held under Subsection (b).
(d) A municipality shall retain ownership of any
infrastructure, including a water treatment and storage facility,
transferred to the municipality from a special district as part of
the annexation of an area disannexed under this section.
(e) After an area is disannexed under this section:
(1) a special district located in and serving the area
may be dissolved only if the members of the governing body of the
district elect to dissolve the district after the disannexation;
and
(2) an emergency services district located in or
adjacent to the area shall provide services to the area.
(f) A disannexation under this section does not authorize
the impairment of a municipal debt obligation and, to the extent
applicable, the area is not released from its pro rata share of that
indebtedness. The municipality shall continue to impose a property
tax each year on the property in the area at the same rate that is
imposed on other property in the municipality until the taxes
collected from the area equal its pro rata share of the
indebtedness. Those taxes may be charged only with the cost of
imposing and collecting the taxes, and the taxes shall be applied
exclusively to the payment of the pro rata share of the
indebtedness. This subsection does not prevent the inhabitants of
the area from paying in full at any time their pro rata share of the
indebtedness.
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, 2023.