By Lindsay S.B. No. 955
75R7332 DRH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirements for municipal annexation.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 43.052(a) and (c), Local Government
1-5 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Before a municipality may institute annexation
1-7 proceedings, the governing body of the municipality must conduct
1-8 three [two] public hearings at which persons interested in the
1-9 annexation are given the opportunity to be heard. The hearings
1-10 must be conducted on or after the 90th [40th] day but before the
1-11 60th [20th] day before the date of the institution of the
1-12 proceedings.
1-13 (c) The municipality must publish notice of the hearings and
1-14 a brief description of the proposed service plan required under
1-15 Section 43.056 in a newspaper of general circulation in the
1-16 municipality and in the area proposed for annexation. The notice
1-17 for each hearing and description of the service plan must be
1-18 published at least once on or after the 20th day but before the
1-19 10th day before the date of the hearing. The municipality must
1-20 give additional notice by certified mail to each railroad company
1-21 that serves the municipality and is on the municipality's tax roll
1-22 if the company's right-of-way is in the area proposed for
1-23 annexation.
1-24 SECTION 2. Section 43.056(h), Local Government Code, is
2-1 amended to read as follows:
2-2 (h) On approval by the governing body of the municipality
2-3 and the governing bodies of any municipal utility or other special
2-4 districts that serve the area, the service plan is a contractual
2-5 obligation that is not subject to amendment or repeal except that
2-6 if the governing body of the municipality determines at the public
2-7 hearings required by this subsection that changed conditions or
2-8 subsequent occurrences make the service plan unworkable or
2-9 obsolete, the municipality [governing body] may amend the service
2-10 plan to conform to the changed conditions or subsequent
2-11 occurrences. An amended service plan must provide for services
2-12 that are comparable to or better than those established in the area
2-13 immediately before the annexation [service plan before amendment].
2-14 Before any amendment is adopted, the governing body of the
2-15 municipality must provide an opportunity for interested persons to
2-16 be heard at public hearings called and held in the manner provided
2-17 by Section 43.052.
2-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
2-19 applies only to an annexation for which the first public hearing
2-20 under Section 43.052, Local Government Code, occurs on or after
2-21 that date.
2-22 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.