By Shields                                            H.B. No. 2792
       74R7990 CAG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the annexation of an area in certain home-rule
    1-3  municipalities by certain general-law municipalities.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
    1-6  is amended by adding Section 43.0315 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 43.0315.  AUTHORITY OF SMALL GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY IN
    1-8  URBAN COUNTY TO ANNEX CERTAIN AREA IN POPULOUS HOME-RULE
    1-9  MUNICIPALITY.  (a)  This section applies only to the annexation of
   1-10  an area that:
   1-11              (1)  is 25 acres or less in size;
   1-12              (2)  is located in a home-rule municipality with a
   1-13  population of 900,000 or more located entirely in one county; and
   1-14              (3)  is adjacent to a general-law municipality with a
   1-15  population of less than 3,500.
   1-16        (b)  The general-law municipality may annex the area if:
   1-17              (1)  the nearest police protection or fire protection
   1-18  facility to all residential dwellings in the area is operated by
   1-19  the general-law municipality;
   1-20              (2)  the nearest police or fire protection facility in
   1-21  the home-rule municipality is more than four miles from the
   1-22  residential dwellings in the area; and
   1-23              (3)  a majority of the registered voters petition the
   1-24  governing body of the general-law municipality in writing to annex
    2-1  the area.
    2-2        (c)  On or before the 30th day after the date the petition is
    2-3  filed with the clerk or secretary of the general-law municipality,
    2-4  the governing body of the municipality may grant or refuse the
    2-5  petition.
    2-6        (d)  If the governing body grants the petition, the governing
    2-7  body by ordinance may annex the area.  All outstanding liabilities
    2-8  of the area are assumed by the general-law municipality.  The
    2-9  general-law municipality shall assume the pro rata share of bond
   2-10  obligations attributable to the area that were in existence at the
   2-11  time the area was annexed by the general-law municipality and shall
   2-12  pay annually the pro rata share to the home-rule municipality.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-18  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-19  passage, and it is so enacted.