BILL ANALYSIS


                                                     C.S.S.B. 421
                                                    By: Wentworth
                                      Intergovernmental Relations
                                                         03-16-95
                                   Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND

Certain home-rule municipalities, having a population over 450,000
and operating city-owned electric utilities, included tracts of
land within their extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) without being
able to provide water and sewer service to such areas.  Although
these municipalities are unable or unwilling to provide such
service, they have refused to release the tracts of land from their
ETJ, which prevents the areas from obtaining needed services from
certain adjacent municipalities capable of providing the services.

PURPOSE

As proposed, C.S.S.B. 421 authorizes the transfer of
extraterritorial jurisdiction between certain municipalities.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or
agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 42B, Local Government Code, by adding
Section 42.024, as follows:

     Sec. 42.024.  TRANSFER OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION
     BETWEEN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES.  (a)  Defines "adopting
     municipality" and "releasing municipality."
     
     (b)  Authorizes the governing body of an adopting
       municipality by resolution to assume the extraterritorial
       jurisdiction of an area from a releasing municipality if:
       
       (1)  the releasing municipality does not provide utility
         services to the area;
         
         (2)  the owners of a majority of the land within the
         released area request that the adopting municipality
         assume the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the released
         area;
         
         (3)  the adopting municipality has adopted a service plan
         to provide water and sewer service to the released area,
         acceptable to the owners of a majority of the land within
         the released area;
         
         (4)  the released area is adjacent to the territory of the
         adopting municipality, wholly within a county in which
         both municipalities have territory, and located in the
         county near or abutting a branch of a creek in which the
         adopting municipality discharges wastewater or in which
         the adopting municipality has entered into a water sale
         contract with a river authority; and
         
         (5)  the adopting municipality adopts ordinances or
         regulations within the released area for water quality
         standards relating to the control or abatement of water
         pollution that are in conformity with those of the Texas
         Natural Resource Conservation Commission for the released
         area on January 1, 1995.
         
         (c)  Provides that the adopting municipality assumes the
       extraterritorial jurisdiction of the released area on the
       date the adopting municipality delivers a copy of the
       resolution to the municipal clerk of the releasing
       municipality.
       
       (d)  Requires the adopting municipality to reimburse the
       releasing municipality for the reasonable and actual costs
       of the releasing municipality as of January 1, 1993, in
       constructing water and sewer lines to the area, not later
       than one year after the date in Subsection (c).
       
       (e)  Provides that nothing in this section shall require the
       releasing municipality to continue to participate in a
       regional wastewater treatment plant providing service, or to
       provide new services, to any territory within the released
       area.
       
       SECTION 2.   Emergency clause.
           Effective date: upon passage.