S.B. No. 2370
AN ACT
relating to the division of certain emergency services districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 8489, Special District Local Laws Code,
is amended by adding Subchapter F to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER F. DIVISION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT THAT
OVERLAPS WITH THE DISTRICT
Sec. 8489.251. DEFINITION. In this subchapter,
"improvement district" means the Comal County Water Improvement
District No. 3.
Sec. 8489.252. AUTHORITY TO DIVIDE DISTRICT. A county in
which the improvement district is located may by order divide an
emergency services district located in whole or in part in the
improvement district and wholly in the county in the manner
provided by this subchapter.
Sec. 8489.253. PETITION FOR DIVISION; NOTICE OF HEARING.
(a) Before an emergency services district may be divided under this
subchapter, the county judge must receive a petition for division
signed by at least 60 percent of the qualified voters of the
improvement district.
(b) A petition for division must include:
(1) the name of the new emergency services district to
be created; and
(2) a description of the proposed territory of the new
emergency services district.
(c) The petition may include an agreement with a neighboring
municipality to allow the municipality to provide fire and
emergency medical services through the new emergency services
district.
(d) Not later than the 30th day after the date the county
judge receives a petition under this section, the commissioners
court of the county shall set a place, date, and time for a hearing
to consider the petition. The commissioners court shall issue a
notice of the hearing that includes:
(1) the name of the proposed emergency services
district;
(2) a description of the proposed emergency services
district's boundaries; and
(3) the place, date, and time of the hearing on the
petition.
(e) A commissioners court of a county that issues notice of
a hearing under Subsection (d) shall publish the notice in a
newspaper of general circulation in the improvement district once a
week for two consecutive weeks. The first publication must occur
not later than the 21st day before the date on which the hearing
will be held.
Sec. 8489.254. HEARING ON DIVISION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
DISTRICT. (a) At a hearing on a petition for the division of an
emergency services district under this subchapter, the
commissioners court shall consider the petition and each issue
relating to the division of the emergency services district.
(b) Any interested person may appear before the
commissioners court to support or oppose the division.
(c) The commissioners court shall approve the petition not
later than the 10th day after the date of the hearing if the
commissioners court finds that:
(1) the petition contains the number of signatures
required under Section 8489.253; and
(2) the proposed division is feasible.
(d) The commissioners court shall consider any agreement
described by Section 8489.253(c) submitted with the petition as
evidence that the division of the emergency services district is
feasible under Subsection (c) of this section.
Sec. 8489.255. ELECTION TO CONFIRM DIVISION. (a) If a
commissioners court of a county approves a petition under Section
8489.254 to divide an emergency services district, the
commissioners court shall order an election to be held in the
territory of the proposed new emergency services district to:
(1) confirm the division of the existing emergency
services district; and
(2) authorize the imposition of a tax in the territory
of the new emergency services district not to exceed the rate
allowed by Section 48-e, Article III, Texas Constitution.
(b) Notice of the election shall be given in the same manner
as the notice of a hearing under Section 8489.253.
(c) The election shall be held on the first authorized
uniform election date prescribed by the Election Code that allows
sufficient time to comply with the requirements of law.
(d) The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
against the proposition: "Dividing the (insert name of emergency
services district) to create a new emergency services district and
authorizing the imposition of a tax."
(e) If a majority of the voters voting at the election vote
to divide the emergency services district, the commissioners court
by order shall divide the emergency services district.
(f) The existing emergency services district and new
emergency services district each shall pay a pro rata share of the
cost of an election held under this section, based on the assessed
value of real property in each emergency services district subject
to ad valorem taxation.
Sec. 8489.256. DIVISION ORDER. (a) A county order dividing
an emergency services district under this subchapter must:
(1) require the existing emergency services district
to disannex the land of the new emergency services district;
(2) create the new emergency services district in
accordance with Chapter 775, Health and Safety Code;
(3) name the new emergency services district;
(4) include the metes and bounds description of the
territories of the new emergency services district and the existing
emergency services district after disannexation; and
(5) appoint the board of the new emergency services
district in the manner described by Section 775.034, Health and
Safety Code.
(b) The county judge shall send to the comptroller by
certified or registered United States Mail a certified copy of a
county order dividing an emergency services district under this
subchapter. The certified copy must:
(1) include the effective date of the division of the
emergency services district; and
(2) be accompanied by a map clearly showing the
boundaries of the new emergency services district.
Sec. 8489.257. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE SALES AND
USE TAXES. The authority of the existing emergency services
district to impose sales and use taxes in the territory of the new
emergency services district ends on the first day of the first
calendar quarter after the comptroller receives a copy of the
division order and map required by Section 8489.256.
Sec. 8489.258. ADMINISTRATION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
DISTRICT AFTER DIVISION. The board of the existing emergency
services district continues in existence to govern the territory of
the existing emergency services district after disannexation of the
land of the new emergency services district.
Sec. 8489.259. TAXATION FOR OUTSTANDING BONDED DEBT. (a)
The disannexation of territory from an emergency services district
under this subchapter does not diminish or impair the rights of
holders of any outstanding and unpaid bonds of the existing
emergency services district.
(b) Property disannexed under this subchapter is not
released from its pro rata share of any of the existing emergency
services district's bonded indebtedness on the date of the
disannexation and the existing emergency services district may
continue to tax property in the disannexed territory until that
debt is paid as if the territory had not been disannexed.
(c) After the date a petition is filed under Section
8489.253 to divide an emergency services district, the emergency
services district may not pledge ad valorem tax revenue or sales tax
revenue from the territory that is proposed in the petition to be
disannexed from the emergency services district unless the division
of the emergency services district fails to be approved at an
election under this subchapter.
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2370 passed the Senate on
May 9, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0,
one present not voting; and that the Senate concurred in House
amendment on May 26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0,
one present not voting.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2370 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 24, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 119,
Nays 19, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor