By Williams                                           H.B. No. 3407
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to applying the open meetings and open records laws to
 1-3     certain property owners' associations.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 551, Government Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 551.0015 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 551.0015.  CERTAIN PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS SUBJECT
 1-8     TO LAW.  (a)  A property owners' association is subject to this
 1-9     chapter in the same manner as a governmental body if:
1-10                 (1)  membership in the property owners' association is
1-11     mandatory for owners or for a defined class of owners of private
1-12     real property in a defined geographic area in a county with a
1-13     population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to a
1-14     county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
1-15                 (2)  the property owners' association has the power to
1-16     make mandatory special assessments for capital improvements or
1-17     mandatory regular assessments; and
1-18                 (3)  the amount of the mandatory special or regular
1-19     assessments is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the
1-20     value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the
1-21     property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under Section 20,
1-22     Article VIII, Texas Constitution.
1-23           (b)  The governing body of the association, a committee of
1-24     the association, and members of the governing body or of a
 2-1     committee of the association are subject to this chapter in the
 2-2     same manner as the governing body of a governmental body, a
 2-3     committee of a governmental body, and members of the governing body
 2-4     or of a committee of the governmental body.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 552, Government Code,  is
 2-6     amended by adding Section 552.0035 to read as follows:
 2-7           Sec. 552.0035.  CERTAIN PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS SUBJECT
 2-8     TO LAW.  A property owners' association is subject to this chapter
 2-9     in the same manner as a governmental body if:
2-10                 (1)  membership in the property owners' association is
2-11     mandatory for owners or for a defined class of owners of private
2-12     real property in a defined geographic area in a county with a
2-13     population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to a
2-14     county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
2-15                 (2)  the property owners' association has the power to
2-16     make mandatory special assessments for capital improvements or
2-17     mandatory regular assessments; and
2-18                 (3)  the amount of the mandatory special or regular
2-19     assessments is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the
2-20     value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the
2-21     property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under Section 20,
2-22     Article VIII, Texas Constitution.
2-23           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  Section
2-24     551.0015, Government Code, as added by this Act, applies only in
2-25     relation to a meeting of a property owners' association held on or
2-26     after that date.
2-27           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.