By Capelo                                             H.B. No. 1856
         76R3122 SMJ-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the requirement of a plat for a subdivision of land
 1-3     outside a municipality.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 232.001(a), Local Government Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
 1-8     of a municipality who divides the tract into two or more parts to
 1-9     lay out a subdivision of the tract, including an addition, [or] to
1-10     lay out suburban lots or building lots, or [and] to lay out
1-11     streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of the tract
1-12     intended to be dedicated to  public use or for the use of
1-13     purchasers or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent to the
1-14     streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts must have a plat of
1-15     the subdivision prepared.  A division of a tract under this
1-16     subsection includes a division regardless of whether it is made by
1-17     using a metes and bounds description in a deed of conveyance or in
1-18     a contract for a deed, by using a contract of sale or other
1-19     executory contract to convey, or by using any other method.
1-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-21     applies only to land subdivided on or after that date.
1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
 2-3                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
 2-4           Amend HB 1856 by adding the following language as a new
 2-5     SECTION 2 and renumbering the subsequent sections accordingly:
 2-6           SECTION 2.  Section 232.0015, Local Government Code, is
 2-7     amended by adding subsection (c) to read as follows:
 2-8           (c)  A county may not require the owner of a tract of land
 2-9     located outside the limits of a municipality who divides the tract
2-10     into two or more parts to have a plat of the subdivision prepared
2-11     if the owner of the land is a political subdivision of the State of
2-12     Texas, the land is in a floodplain and the lots are sold to
2-13     adjoining landowners.
2-14                                                                  Walker