By:  Wentworth                                         S.B. No. 530
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to requiring certain home-rule municipalities to obtain
    1-2  annexation approval from voters in the area to be annexed.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
    1-5  is amended by adding Section 43.0225 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 43.0225.  VOTER APPROVAL IN AREA TO BE ANNEXED BY
    1-7  CERTAIN HOME-RULE MUNICIPALITIES REQUIRED.  (a)  This section
    1-8  applies only to a home-rule municipality that has a charter
    1-9  provision allowing for limited-purpose annexation and has annexed
   1-10  territory for a limited purpose.
   1-11        (b)  A home-rule municipality may annex an area with 50 or
   1-12  more inhabitants only if:
   1-13              (1)  the municipality holds an election in the area to
   1-14  be annexed for which the ballots are printed to provide for voting
   1-15  for or against the proposition:  "Annexation of the area described
   1-16  in the municipal order calling this election, generally described
   1-17  as (a general description of the area to be annexed)"; and
   1-18              (2)  a majority of the votes received at the election
   1-19  favor the annexation.
   1-20        (c)  The general description on the ballot proposition may
   1-21  not be a metes and bounds description or a legal description and
   1-22  need not exactly describe the boundaries of the area.  The
   1-23  description may refer to land features, landmarks, streets or
   1-24  highways, subdivision names, or other commonly understood points of
    2-1  reference to provide the voters with a reasonable general
    2-2  understanding of the area to be annexed.
    2-3        (d)  The election order and the notice of the election must
    2-4  describe the area to be annexed by metes and bounds or by a legal
    2-5  description and must generally describe the area to be annexed.
    2-6  The general description is subject to the same provisions that
    2-7  apply under Subsection (c) to the general description on a ballot
    2-8  proposition.
    2-9        (e)  If the annexation is not approved as required by
   2-10  Subsection (b), the municipality may not initiate annexation
   2-11  proceedings in any part of the area until after the fifth
   2-12  anniversary of the date of the election.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act by the
   2-14  addition of Section 43.0225, Local Government Code, apply only to
   2-15  an annexation for which the first hearing notice required by
   2-16  Section 43.052, Local Government Code, is published on or after the
   2-17  effective date of this Act.  An annexation for which the first
   2-18  hearing notice is published before that date is governed by the law
   2-19  in effect at the time the notice is published, and the former law
   2-20  is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-25  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.