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.