By:  Henderson                                        S.B. No. 1230
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the conveyance of parks in certain municipalities.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Section 253.001, Local Government Code, is
    1-4  amended by adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
    1-5        (f)  Except as provided by Subsection (g), Subsection (b)
    1-6  does not apply to a conveyance of a park if:
    1-7              (1)  it is owned by a municipality with a population of
    1-8  more than 1 million;
    1-9              (2)  its area is two acres or less;
   1-10              (3)  the proceeds of the conveyance will be used to
   1-11  acquire land for park purposes; and
   1-12              (4)  the governing body of the municipality, after a
   1-13  public hearing, determines that the property is no longer usable
   1-14  and functional as a park.
   1-15        (g)  If before the 61st day after the date of the hearing
   1-16  under Subsection (f)(4) a petition opposing the conveyance and
   1-17  meeting the conditions of this subsection is presented to the
   1-18  governing body of the municipality, the conveyance may not be made
   1-19  unless approved at an election held under Subsection (b).  The
   1-20  petition must be signed by at least 1,500 registered voters of the
   1-21  municipality and must include the address of each person signing
   1-22  and the date of each signature.
   1-23        (h)  Subsection (b) does not apply to an exchange of two
    2-1  existing parks if:
    2-2              (1)  they are located in a municipality with a
    2-3  population of more than 1 million;
    2-4              (2)  the total area of the parks is 1-1/2 acres or
    2-5  less;
    2-6              (3)  a boundary of one of the parks is within 1,000
    2-7  feet of a boundary of the other park;
    2-8              (4)  they are located in an industrial area;
    2-9              (5)  the governing body of the municipality, after a
   2-10  public hearing, determines that they are no longer usable as parks;
   2-11  and
   2-12              (6)  the conveyance is made under an ordinance adopted
   2-13  by the governing body of the municipality that takes effect before
   2-14  December 1, 1993.
   2-15        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-20  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-21  passage, and it is so enacted.