By Crabb                                        H.B. No. 1727

      75R5946 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to annexations by a municipality.

 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 43.0215 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 43.0215.  VOTER APPROVAL OF ANNEXATION REQUIRED IN

 1-7     CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a

 1-8     municipality with a population of 1.6 million or more.

 1-9           (b)  If a municipality receives a certification under

1-10     Subsection (c), the municipality may not annex an area for full or

1-11     limited purposes unless:

1-12                 (1)  on the same day a separate election on the

1-13     question of the annexation is held in:

1-14                       (A)  the area to be annexed, at which the

1-15     qualified voters of the area may vote; and

1-16                       (B)  the municipality, at which the qualified

1-17     voters of the municipality may vote; and

1-18                 (2)  more than 50 percent of the votes received in each

1-19     election approve the annexation.

1-20           (c)  An election under Subsection (b) shall be held if the

1-21     county clerk of the county in which a majority of area proposed to

1-22     be annexed is located receives a petition asking for an election

1-23     signed by at least 10 percent of the registered voters who reside

1-24     in the proposed area.  The county clerk shall determine the

 2-1     validity of the petition under Chapter 277, Election Code, not

 2-2     later than the 30th day after the date the petition is received.

 2-3           (d)  If the county clerk determines that a petition filed

 2-4     under Subsection (c) is valid or if the county clerk fails to make

 2-5     a determination within the time prescribed by that subsection, the

 2-6     county clerk shall certify that fact to the governing body of the

 2-7     municipality and to the commissioners court of the county in which

 2-8     a majority of the area proposed to be annexed is located.  The

 2-9     municipality shall order and conduct the election held in the

2-10     municipality, and the county shall order and conduct the election

2-11     in the area to be annexed.  The municipality and county shall order

2-12     the elections to be held on the first uniform election date that

2-13     occurs at least 45 days after the date the governing body and

2-14     commissioners court receive the clerk's certification.

2-15           (e)  At the election the ballots shall be prepared to permit

2-16     voting for or against the following proposition:  "The annexation

2-17     of (name of tract) to the City of (name of city)."  The county

2-18     shall designate the name of the tract based on a name commonly used

2-19     in the region to identify the tract, and the municipality and

2-20     county shall use that name in the ballot proposition.

2-21           (f)  If more than 50 percent of the votes received in either

2-22     election held under Subsection (b) disapprove the annexation, the

2-23     municipality may not annex any portion of the area until the 10th

2-24     anniversary of the date of the election.

2-25           (g)  This section does not apply to an annexation of an area

2-26     if:

2-27                 (1)  no qualified voters reside in the area; or

 3-1                 (2)  the annexation is authorized by or subject to

 3-2     another section of this chapter, other than Section 43.021.

 3-3           (h)  The municipality shall pay for the cost of holding both

 3-4     elections.

 3-5           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-10     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-11     passage, and it is so enacted.