By Williams                                            H.B. No. 379
         76R1116 CAG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring certain municipalities to hold an election in
 1-3     an area proposed 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 OF ANNEXATION REQUIRED IN
 1-8     CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a
 1-9     municipality with a population of 1.6 million or more.
1-10           (b)  The municipality may not annex an area for full or
1-11     limited purposes unless:
1-12                 (1)  the municipality holds in the area an election, at
1-13     which the qualified voters of the area may vote, on the question of
1-14     the annexation; and
1-15                 (2)  a majority of the votes received at the election
1-16     approve the annexation.
1-17           (c)  This section does not apply to an annexation of an area
1-18     if:
1-19                 (1)  no qualified voters reside in the area;
1-20                 (2)  the annexation is authorized by or subject to
1-21     another section of this chapter, other than Section 43.021; or
1-22                 (3)  the annexation is initiated by the municipality in
1-23     response to a petition under Section 42.041.
1-24           (d)  The municipality shall pay for the cost of holding the
 2-1     election.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act by the
 2-3     addition of Section 43.0215, Local Government Code, apply only to
 2-4     an annexation for which the first hearing notice required by
 2-5     Section 43.052, Local Government Code, is published on or after
 2-6     September 1, 1999.  An annexation for which the first hearing
 2-7     notice is published before that date is governed by the law in
 2-8     effect at the time the notice is published, and the prior law is
 2-9     continued in effect for that purpose.
2-10           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.