By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1882
(In the Senate - Filed March 4, 2025; March 17, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Local Government;
April 1, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
Nays 1; April 1, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the imposition by a municipality of a moratorium on
property development in certain circumstances.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 212.134(b), (c), and (f), Local
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) A public hearing must provide municipal residents and
affected parties an opportunity to be heard. The municipality
shall, not later than the 30th day before the date of a hearing:
(1) [must] publish notice of the time and place of the
[a] hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the
municipality; and
(2) send notice of the hearing by certified mail to any
person who has given written notice by certified or registered mail
to the municipal secretary requesting notice of the hearing within
two years preceding the date of adoption of the ordinance or
resolution setting the public hearing [on the fourth day before the
date of the hearing].
(c) The governing body of a municipality shall hold two
public hearings on a moratorium on property development proposed to
be adopted under this subchapter. The governing body may not hold
the second public hearing before the 30th day after the date of the
first public hearing [Beginning on the fifth business day after the
date a notice is published under Subsection (b), a temporary
moratorium takes effect. During the period of the temporary
moratorium, a municipality may stop accepting permits,
authorizations, and approvals necessary for the subdivision of,
site planning of, or construction on real property].
(f) Not later than the 12th day [Within 12 days] after the
date of the second [first] public hearing, the governing body of the
municipality shall begin [make] a final determination on the
imposition of a moratorium by giving the ordinance imposing the
moratorium at least two readings that are not less than 28 days
apart. The ordinance must receive the affirmative vote of at least
two-thirds of all members of the governing body on final reading in
order to take effect. [Before an ordinance adopting a moratorium
may be imposed, the ordinance must be given at least two readings by
the governing body of the municipality. The readings must be
separated by at least four days.] If the governing body
[municipality] fails to adopt an ordinance imposing a moratorium
within the period prescribed by this subsection, the municipality
may not adopt the [an] ordinance [imposing a moratorium may not be
adopted, and the temporary moratorium imposed under Subsection (c)
expires].
SECTION 2. Section 212.1362, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 212.1362. EXPIRATION OF MORATORIUM [ON COMMERCIAL
PROPERTY IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES]; EXTENSION. (a) A moratorium
[on commercial property] adopted under this subchapter [Section
212.1352] expires on the 90th day after the date the moratorium is
adopted unless the governing body of the municipality extends the
moratorium by:
(1) holding a public hearing on the proposed extension
of the moratorium; and
(2) adopting written findings that:
(A) identify the problem requiring the need for
extending the moratorium;
(B) describe the reasonable progress made to
alleviate the problem;
(C) specify a definite duration for the renewal
period of the moratorium; and
(D) include a summary of evidence demonstrating
that the problem will be resolved within the extended duration of
the moratorium.
(b) A municipality may not adopt a moratorium [on commercial
property] under this subchapter:
(1) [Section 212.1352] that exceeds an aggregate of
180 days; or
(2) [. A municipality may not adopt a moratorium on
commercial property under Section 212.1352] before the second
anniversary of the expiration date of a previous moratorium if the
subsequent moratorium addresses the same harm, affects the same
type of [commercial] property, or affects the same geographical
area identified by the previous moratorium.
SECTION 3. The following provisions of the Local Government
Code are repealed:
(1) Sections 212.134(d) and (e); and
(2) Section 212.136.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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