BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2489 By: Yost May 4, 1995 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently a home-rule municipality may unilaterally annex a municipal utility district lying within its extraterritorial jurisdiction so long as the entire MUD is annexed and the city assumes all of the debt of the MUD. PURPOSE C.S.H.B. 2489 would prevent a city from annexing a MUD unless the MUD has grown to the point where it was providing retail service to 80% of the equivalent wastewater connection rights reserved for the MUD's retail customers in the city's wastewater system. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1 Amends Subchapter D, Chapter 43, Local Government Code, by adding Section 43.0725 as follows: Sec. 43.0725. ANNEXATION OF AREAS IN CERTAIN MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICTS Subsection (a) provides that this section applies only to a home-rule municipality that has a population of more than 400,000, has a charter provision allowing limited-purpose annexation, and has disannexed territory that was annexed for a limited purpose. Subsection (b) states that annexation of a MUD may occur only when the district is providing retail service to 80% or more of the equivalent wastewater connection rights that the district has reserved in the municipality's wastewater system for the district's retail customers. SECTION 2 The changes in law made by this Act apply only to an annexation for which the first hearing notice is published on or after January 1, 1995, and that has not been completed before the effective date of this Act. SECTION 3 Emergency clause. Effective upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute changes the subchapter to which the bill applies in order to insert the language of the bill in the most appropriate location in the code. The substitute also changes the bracketing in the bill to clarify bill's applicability. The substitute also modifies the prospective clause in SECTION 2 of the bill. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION H.B. 2489 was considered by the committee in a public hearing on May 2, 1995. The following persons testified in favor of the bill: Representative Jerry Yost; Hal Lanham, representing himself and the Northwest Travis County MUD #1; Jeff Lawlor, representing himself and the Northwest Coalition of Neighborhoods and the Mountain Neighborhood; and Diane Spencer, representing herself and the Northwest Travis County MUD #1. The committee considered a complete substitute for the bill. The substitute was adopted without objection. The bill was reported favorably as substituted, with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed and be sent to the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars, by a record vote of 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 4 absent.