By Keel H.B. No. 2235
75R7716 DRH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirements for disannexation.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 43.141(a), (b), and (f), Local
1-5 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) A majority of the qualified voters of an annexed area
1-7 may petition the governing body of the municipality to disannex the
1-8 area if the municipality:
1-9 (1) fails or refuses to provide services or to cause
1-10 services to be provided to the area within the period specified by
1-11 Section 43.056 or by the service plan prepared for the area under
1-12 that section; or
1-13 (2) provides the area with fewer or a lower level of
1-14 services than the municipality provides to other parts of the
1-15 municipality.
1-16 (b) If the governing body fails or refuses to disannex the
1-17 area within 60 days after the date of the receipt of the petition,
1-18 any one or more of the signers of the petition may bring a cause of
1-19 action in a district court of the county in which the area is
1-20 principally located to request that the area be disannexed. On the
1-21 filing of an answer by the governing body, and on application of
1-22 either party, the case shall be advanced and heard without further
1-23 delay in accordance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The
1-24 district court shall enter an order disannexing the area if the
2-1 court finds that a valid petition was filed with the municipality
2-2 and that:
2-3 (1) the municipality failed to perform its obligations
2-4 in accordance with the service plan or failed to perform in good
2-5 faith; or
2-6 (2) the municipality has provided the area with fewer
2-7 or a lower level of services than the municipality provides to
2-8 other parts of the municipality.
2-9 (f) Before the petition is circulated among the voters,
2-10 notice of the petition must be given by posting a copy of the
2-11 petition for 10 days in three public places in the annexed area and
2-12 by publishing a copy of the petition once in a newspaper of general
2-13 circulation serving the area before the 15th day before the date
2-14 the petition is first circulated. Proof of the posting and
2-15 publication must be made by attaching to the petition presented to
2-16 the secretary[:]
2-17 [(1) the sworn affidavit of any voter who signed the
2-18 petition, stating the places and dates of the posting; and]
2-19 [(2)] the sworn affidavit of the publisher of the
2-20 newspaper in which the notice was published, stating the name of
2-21 the newspaper and the issue and date of publication.
2-22 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-23 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.