Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB1503 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R9742 JTZ-D
2	2	By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1503
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the expansion of the territory of an emergency services
10	10	district into the territory of a municipality.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Section 775.051(a), Health and Safety Code, is
13	13	amended to read as follows:
14	14	(a) Qualified voters who own taxable real property in a
15	15	defined territory that is not included in a district may file a
16	16	petition with the secretary of the board requesting the inclusion
17	17	of the territory in the district. The petition must:
18	18	(1) be signed by at least 50 qualified voters who own
19	19	taxable real property in the territory or a majority of those
20	20	voters, whichever is less; and
21	21	(2) show the name of each municipality whose consent
22	22	must be obtained under Section 775.0515.
23	23	SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 775, Health and Safety
24	24	Code, is amended by adding Section 775.0515 to read as follows:
25	25	Sec. 775.0515. EXPANSION OF DISTRICT THAT INCLUDES
26	26	MUNICIPAL TERRITORY. (a) Before territory in a municipality's
27	27	limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction may be annexed into a
28	28	district under Section 775.051, a written request to be annexed
29	29	into the district must be presented to the municipality's governing
30	30	body after the petition is filed under Section 775.051. Except as
31	31	provided by Subsection (c), that territory may not be annexed into
32	32	the district unless the municipality's governing body gives its
33	33	written consent on or before the 60th day after the date the
34	34	municipality receives the request.
35	35	(b) If the municipality's governing body does not consent to
36	36	annexation within the 60-day period prescribed by Subsection (a), a
37	37	majority of the qualified voters and the owners of at least 50
38	38	percent of the territory in the municipality's limits or
39	39	extraterritorial jurisdiction that would have been annexed into the
40	40	district may petition the governing body to make fire control and
41	41	emergency medical and ambulance services available in the
42	42	territory. The petition must be submitted to the governing body not
43	43	later than the 90th day after the date the municipality receives the
44	44	request under Subsection (a).
45	45	(c) If the municipality's governing body refuses or fails to
46	46	act on the petition requesting fire control and emergency medical
47	47	and ambulance services within six months after the date on which the
48	48	petition submitted under Subsection (b) is received, the governing
49	49	body's refusal or failure to act constitutes consent for the
50	50	territory that is the subject of the petition to be annexed into the
51	51	district.
52	52	(d) If the territory proposed to be annexed into the
53	53	district will include territory designated by a municipality as an
54	54	industrial district under Section 42.044, Local Government Code,
55	55	consent to include the industrial district must be obtained from
56	56	the municipality's governing body in the same manner provided by
57	57	this section for obtaining consent to annex territory within the
58	58	limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality.
59	59	(e) If the municipality's governing body consents to
60	60	annexation of territory within its limits or extraterritorial
61	61	jurisdiction, or in an industrial district, the territory may be
62	62	annexed into the district in the same manner as other territory is
63	63	annexed under this chapter.
64	64	(f) A governing body's consent to annex territory into the
65	65	district expires six months after the date the consent is given.
66	66	(g) This section does not apply if territory proposed to be
67	67	annexed into the district is in the unincorporated area of a county
68	68	with a population of 3.3 million or more.
69	69	SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
70	70	a petition for the expansion of an emergency services district
71	71	filed with the board of the emergency services district on or after
72	72	the effective date of this Act. A petition pending before the board
73	73	of an emergency services district on the effective date of this Act
74	74	is governed by the law in effect at the time the petition was filed,
75	75	and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
76	76	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.