By: Ellis S.B. No. 299
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the validation of governmental acts and proceedings by
1-2 municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Title 28, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
1-5 Article 974d-44 to read as follows:
1-6 Art. 974d-44
1-7 Sec. 1. APPLICATION. This article applies to any
1-8 incorporated city, town, or village operating under general laws or
1-9 under a home-rule charter.
1-10 Sec. 2. ADOPTION OR AMENDMENT OF HOME-RULE CHARTER.
1-11 (a) All governmental acts and proceedings of a municipality
1-12 covered by this article regarding the adoption or amendment of a
1-13 home-rule charter are validated as of the dates on which they
1-14 occurred.
1-15 (b) All governmental acts and proceedings of the
1-16 municipality since adoption or attempted adoption or amendment of
1-17 the charter are validated as of the dates on which they occurred.
1-18 Sec. 3. INCORPORATION PROCEEDINGS. (a) The incorporation
1-19 proceedings of all cities and towns in this state that incorporated
1-20 or attempted to incorporate under the general laws of the State of
1-21 Texas, whether under the aldermanic or commission form of
1-22 government, and which have functioned or attempted to function as
1-23 incorporated cities or towns since the date of such incorporation
2-1 or attempted incorporation are validated as of the date of such
2-2 incorporation or attempted incorporation. The incorporation of
2-3 such cities and towns shall not be held invalid by reason of the
2-4 fact that the election proceedings or incorporation proceedings may
2-5 not have been in accordance with law.
2-6 (b) All governmental proceedings performed by the governing
2-7 bodies of all such cities and towns and their officers since their
2-8 incorporation or attempted incorporation are validated as of the
2-9 date of such proceedings, including extensions or attempted
2-10 extensions of extraterritorial jurisdiction undertaken at the
2-11 request of owners of territory.
2-12 Sec. 4. ANNEXATION PROCEEDINGS. (a) The governmental acts
2-13 and proceedings of a city or town relating to the annexation or
2-14 attempted annexation of adjacent territory by the city or town
2-15 before December 31, 1994, are validated as of the dates they
2-16 occurred. The acts and proceedings may not be held invalid because
2-17 they were not performed in accordance with the procedural or other
2-18 requirements of Chapters 42 and 43, Local Government Code, or
2-19 another law. The boundaries fixed by the annexation or attempted
2-20 annexation are validated.
2-21 (b) The governmental acts and proceedings of the city or
2-22 town occurring after the annexation may not be held invalid on the
2-23 ground that the annexation, in the absence of this article, was
2-24 invalid.
2-25 Sec. 5. ANNEXATIONS NOT VALIDATED. This article does not
3-1 validate governmental acts or proceedings relating to a city's or
3-2 town's annexation or attempted annexation of territory in the
3-3 extraterritorial jurisdiction of another city or town without the
3-4 consent of that city or town in violation of Chapters 42 and 43,
3-5 Local Government Code.
3-6 Sec. 6. ORDINANCE OR REGULATION NOT VALIDATED. This article
3-7 does not validate any ordinance or regulation of a municipality
3-8 that violates Section 1.06 or 109.57, Alcoholic Beverage Code.
3-9 Sec. 7. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT SALES TAX ELECTION. All acts
3-10 and procedures of a municipality in a county that borders the Gulf
3-11 of Mexico and that borders a county with a population of more than
3-12 two million in calling an industrial development sales tax election
3-13 on December 6, 1994, under the authority of Section 4B, Development
3-14 Corporation Act of 1979 (Article 5190.6, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-15 Statutes), declaring the results thereof or declaring the purposes
3-16 for which the sales tax proceeds may be used are validated as of
3-17 that date.
3-18 Sec. 8. EFFECT OF LITIGATION. This article does not apply
3-19 to any matter that on the effective date of this article:
3-20 (1) is involved in litigation if the litigation
3-21 ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final
3-22 judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
3-23 (2) has been held invalid by a final judgment of a
3-24 court of competent jurisdiction.
3-25 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-6 passage, and it is so enacted.