1-1     By:  Williams (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen)              H.B. No. 3407
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 13, 1999;
 1-3     May 14, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to applying the open meetings and open records laws to
 1-9     certain property owners' associations.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 551, Government Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 551.0015 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 551.0015.  CERTAIN PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS SUBJECT
1-14     TO LAW.  (a)  A property owners' association is subject to this
1-15     chapter in the same manner as a governmental body if:
1-16                 (1)  membership in the property owners' association is
1-17     mandatory for owners or for a defined class of owners of private
1-18     real property in a defined geographic area in a county with a
1-19     population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to a
1-20     county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
1-21                 (2)  the property owners' association has the power to
1-22     make mandatory special assessments for capital improvements or
1-23     mandatory regular assessments; and
1-24                 (3)  the amount of the mandatory special or regular
1-25     assessments is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the
1-26     value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the
1-27     property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under Section 20,
1-28     Article VIII, Texas Constitution.
1-29           (b)  The governing body of the association, a committee of
1-30     the association, and members of the governing body or of a
1-31     committee of the association are subject to this chapter in the
1-32     same manner as the governing body of a governmental body, a
1-33     committee of a governmental body, and members of the governing body
1-34     or of a committee of the governmental body.
1-35           SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 552, Government Code,  is
1-36     amended by adding Section 552.0035 to read as follows:
1-37           Sec. 552.0035.  CERTAIN PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS SUBJECT
1-38     TO LAW.  A property owners' association is subject to this chapter
1-39     in the same manner as a governmental body if:
1-40                 (1)  membership in the property owners' association is
1-41     mandatory for owners or for a defined class of owners of private
1-42     real property in a defined geographic area in a county with a
1-43     population of 2.8 million or more or in a county adjacent to a
1-44     county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
1-45                 (2)  the property owners' association has the power to
1-46     make mandatory special assessments for capital improvements or
1-47     mandatory regular assessments; and
1-48                 (3)  the amount of the mandatory special or regular
1-49     assessments is or has ever been based in whole or in part on the
1-50     value at which the state or a local governmental body assesses the
1-51     property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under Section 20,
1-52     Article VIII, Texas Constitution.
1-53           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  Section
1-54     551.0015, Government Code, as added by this Act, applies only in
1-55     relation to a meeting of a property owners' association held on or
1-56     after that date.
1-57           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-58     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-59     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-60     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-61     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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