89R11746 CS-F
By: Virdell H.B. No. 3056
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to municipal and county regulation of certain wind and
solar power facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 247, Local Government
Code, as added by Chapter 19 (S.B. 1017), Acts of the 88th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 247. REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY GENERATION, ENERGY
SOURCES, AND ENGINES
SECTION 2. Section 247.001, Local Government Code, as added
by Chapter 19 (S.B. 1017), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2023, is amended by adding Subdivisions (5) and (6) to read
as follows:
(5) "Solar power facility" has the meaning assigned by
Section 302.0001, Utilities Code.
(6) "Wind power facility" has the meaning assigned by
Section 301.0001, Utilities Code.
SECTION 3. Chapter 247, Local Government Code, as added by
Chapter 19 (S.B. 1017), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2023, is amended by adding Section 247.004 to read as
follows:
Sec. 247.004. REGULATION OF WIND AND SOLAR POWER
FACILITIES. (a) This section applies only to a wind or solar power
facility intended to be used to sell at wholesale energy or
ancillary services.
(b) A municipality by ordinance and a county by order shall
prohibit the installation of a wind or solar power facility within
500 yards of real property owned by a person other than the owner or
operator of the proposed facility unless the owner or operator of
the proposed facility obtains written consent from each owner of
the real property.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the measurement of
distance between a wind or solar power facility and a property line
shall be taken from the point on the structure that is nearest to
the nearest point on the property line.
(d) A county may not regulate under Subsection (b) the
installation of a wind or solar power facility within the corporate
boundaries of a municipality.
SECTION 4. Not later than October 1, 2025, a municipality by
ordinance and a county by order shall adopt a prohibition on the
installation of a wind or solar power facility as required by
Section 247.004, Local Government Code, as added by this Act. The
ordinance or order may not require the removal of a wind or solar
power facility the installation of which began before the effective
date of the ordinance or order.
SECTION 5. It is the intent of the 89th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2025, that the amendments made by this Act to Chapter 247,
Local Government Code, be harmonized with another Act of the 89th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, relating to nonsubstantive
additions to and corrections in enacted codes.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.