Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1197 amends the Local Government Code to authorize a binding development agreement between a municipality and an owner of land in the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) unless the municipality has a population of 1.9 million or more or the agreement is inconsistent with model rules governing infrastructure development in an economically distressed county. The bill authorizes the municipality's governing board to enter into a written contract with the landowner to guarantee that the municipality will continue the extraterritorial status of the land and will not annex it for at least 15 years and to extend the municipality's planning, enforcement, and infrastructure authority to the land covered in the agreement. The bill requires an agreement to be recorded in the real property records of each affected county, and authorizes the parties to renew the agreement for successive periods of up to 15 years, not to exceed a total of 45 years. The bill provides that an agreement is binding on successors, but not on an end-buyer of a fully developed and improved lot within the development, with certain exceptions. The bill specifies that provisions do not apply to or affect any ordinance or other action adopted by this state or any of its political subdivisions under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and its subsequent amendments. Finally, the bill includes a provision prohibiting a municipality from requiring a development agreement as a condition for providing water, sewer, or other utility service from a municipally owned or operated utility.