By Bailey                                        H.B. No. 585

      75R3875 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to requiring certain municipalities to hold an election in

 1-3     an area proposed to be annexed and the effects of an annexation

 1-4     election.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,

 1-7     is amended by adding Sections 43.0215 and 43.0216 to read as

 1-8     follows:

 1-9           Sec. 43.0215.  VOTER APPROVAL OF ANNEXATION REQUIRED IN

1-10     CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a

1-11     municipality with a population of 1.6 million or more.

1-12           (b)  The municipality may not annex an area for full or

1-13     limited purposes unless:

1-14                 (1)  the municipality holds in the area an election, at

1-15     which the qualified voters of the area may vote, on the question of

1-16     the annexation; and

1-17                 (2)  a majority of the votes received at the election

1-18     approve the annexation.

1-19           (c)  This section does not apply to an annexation of an area

1-20     if:

1-21                 (1)  no qualified voters reside in the area; or

1-22                 (2)  the annexation is authorized by or subject to

1-23     another section of this chapter, other than Section 43.021.

1-24           (d)  The municipality shall pay for the cost of holding the

 2-1     election.

 2-2           Sec. 43.0216.  EFFECT OF VOTER DISAPPROVAL.  (a)  This

 2-3     section applies to any municipality located in a county in which a

 2-4     municipality has held an election under Section 43.0215 at which

 2-5     the voters fail to approve an annexation of an area for full or

 2-6     limited purposes.

 2-7           (b)  The governing body of each municipality, on a uniform

 2-8     election date occurring not later than the 180th day after the date

 2-9     of an election held under Section 43.0215, shall hold an election

2-10     at which the qualified voters of the municipality shall vote on the

2-11     question of whether the owners of real property in the municipality

2-12     shall pay any property tax imposed by a county on the owners'

2-13     property in the municipality.

2-14           (c)  If the majority of votes received at the election favor

2-15     not paying the property tax, a county, for the purposes of

2-16     assessing and collecting property taxes only, may not impose county

2-17     property taxes on real property in the municipality.

2-18           (d)  If the county property tax is discontinued as provided

2-19     by this section, and if, at the time of the discontinuation, the

2-20     county owes any debts by bond or otherwise, the owners of real

2-21     property in the municipality are not released from their pro rata

2-22     share of that indebtedness.  The commissioners court of the county

2-23     shall continue to impose a property tax each year at the same rate

2-24     that is imposed on other property in the county until the taxes

2-25     collected from the municipal area equal its pro rata share of the

2-26     indebtedness.

2-27           (e)  The discontinuation under this section affects only the

 3-1     payment of property taxes and does not constitute a detachment of

 3-2     territory from a county.

 3-3           (f)  The commissioners court of the county and the

 3-4     municipality in which the county property tax is discontinued may

 3-5     enter into an interlocal contract to provide any service to the

 3-6     municipality previously provided by the county.

 3-7           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act by the

 3-8     addition of Section 43.0215, Local Government Code, apply only to

 3-9     an annexation for which the first hearing notice required by

3-10     Section 43.052, Local Government Code, is published on or after

3-11     September 1, 1997.  An annexation for which the first hearing

3-12     notice is published before that date is governed by the law in

3-13     effect at the time the notice is published, and the prior law is

3-14     continued in effect for that purpose.

3-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.