By Kamel                                         H.B. No. 639

      75R961 PAM-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to requiring municipalities to obtain annexation approval

 1-3     from voters in the area to be annexed.

 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 43.0215 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 43.0215.  VOTER APPROVAL REQUIRED IN AREA TO BE ANNEXED

 1-8     BY A MUNICIPALITY IN GENERAL.  (a)  This section does not apply to

 1-9     the annexation of an area described by another statute that

1-10     requires:

1-11                 (1)  an election at which the voters in the area to be

1-12     annexed may vote on the question of the annexation; or

1-13                 (2)  the approval of the annexation by another

1-14     municipality affected by the annexation.

1-15           (b)  A home-rule municipality may annex an area with 50 or

1-16     more inhabitants only if:

1-17                 (1)  the municipality holds an election in the area to

1-18     be annexed for which the ballots are printed to permit voting for

1-19     or against the proposition:  "Annexation of the area described in

1-20     the municipal order calling this election, generally described as

1-21     (a general description of the area to be annexed)"; and

1-22                 (2)  a majority of the votes received at the election

1-23     favor the annexation.

1-24           (c)  The election must be held within 60 days after the date

 2-1     the hearings required by Section 43.052 are completed.  The

 2-2     election is not required to be held on a uniform election date

 2-3     prescribed by Chapter 41, Election Code.

 2-4           (d)  The general description on the ballot proposition may

 2-5     not be a metes and bounds description or a legal description and

 2-6     need not exactly describe the boundaries of the area.  The

 2-7     description may refer to land features, landmarks, streets or

 2-8     highways, subdivision names, or other commonly understood points of

 2-9     reference to provide the voters with a reasonable general

2-10     understanding of the area to be annexed.

2-11           (e)  The election order and the notice of the election must

2-12     describe the area to be annexed by metes and bounds or by a legal

2-13     description and must generally describe the area to be annexed.

2-14     The general description is subject to the same provisions that

2-15     apply under Subsection (d) to the general description on a ballot

2-16     proposition.

2-17           (f)  If the annexation is not approved as required by

2-18     Subsection (b), the municipality may not initiate annexation

2-19     proceedings in any part of the area until after the fifth

2-20     anniversary of the date of the election.

2-21           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act by the

2-22     addition of Section 43.0215, Local Government Code, apply only to

2-23     an annexation for which the first hearing notice required by

2-24     Section 43.052, Local Government Code, is published on or after the

2-25     effective date of this Act.  An annexation for which the first

2-26     hearing notice is published before that date is governed by the law

2-27     in effect at the time the notice is published, and the former law

 3-1     is continued in effect for that purpose.

 3-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

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

 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.