H.B. No. 875
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the appointment to and the powers and duties of a
    1-3  municipal zoning board of adjustment.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 211.008(b) and (d), Local Government
    1-6  Code, are amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (b)  A board of adjustment must consist of at least five
    1-8  members to be appointed for terms of two years.  The governing body
    1-9  must provide the procedure for appointment.  The governing body may
   1-10  authorize each member of the governing body, including the mayor,
   1-11  to appoint one member to the board.  The appointing authority may
   1-12  remove a board member for cause, as found by the appointing
   1-13  authority, on a written charge after a public hearing.  A vacancy
   1-14  on the board shall be filled for the unexpired term.
   1-15        (d)  Each case before the board of adjustment must be heard
   1-16  by at least 75 percent of the <four> members.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  Section 211.009(c), Local Government Code, is
   1-18  amended to read as follows:
   1-19        (c)  The concurring vote of 75 percent of the <four> members
   1-20  of the board is necessary to:
   1-21              (1)  reverse an order, requirement, decision, or
   1-22  determination of an administrative official;
   1-23              (2)  decide in favor of an applicant on a matter on
   1-24  which the board is required to pass under a zoning ordinance; or
    2-1              (3)  authorize a variation from the terms of a zoning
    2-2  ordinance.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-9  passage, and it is so enacted.