1-1     By:  Bernsen                                          S.B. No. 1154
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
 1-4     April 12, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 12, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1154              By:  Barrientos
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the establishment of regional development agreements
1-11     between certain municipalities and special districts.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the legislature that this Act
1-14     make clear and expand the authority of a municipality and a
1-15     conservation and reclamation district located in the
1-16     extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality to negotiate and
1-17     enter into a mutually acceptable agreement in lieu of annexation.
1-18           SECTION  2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
1-19     is amended by adding Section 43.0752 to read as follows:
1-20           Sec. 43.0752.  REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS.  (a)  In this
1-21     section:
1-22                 (1)  "District" means a conservation and reclamation
1-23     district that is created or operating under Chapters 49 and 54,
1-24     Water Code, and that is located entirely within the boundaries of a
1-25     planned community and entirely within the extraterritorial
1-26     jurisdiction of a municipality.
1-27                 (2)  "Municipality" means a municipality with a
1-28     population of 1.6 million or more.
1-29                 (3)  "Planned community" means a planned community of
1-30     10,000 acres or more that is subject in whole or in part to a
1-31     restrictive covenant that contains an ad valorem-based assessment
1-32     on real property used or to be used, in any part, to fund
1-33     governmental or quasi-governmental services and facilities within
1-34     and for the planned community.
1-35                 (4)  "Regional development agreement" means a contract
1-36     or agreement entered into under this section or in anticipation of
1-37     the enactment of this section and any amendment, modification,
1-38     supplement, addition, renewal, or extension to or of the contract
1-39     or agreement or any proceeding relating to the contract or
1-40     agreement.
1-41           (b)  Notwithstanding any contrary law or municipal charter
1-42     provision, the governing body of a municipality and the governing
1-43     body of one or more districts may enter into a regional development
1-44     agreement to further regional cooperation between the municipality
1-45     and the district.
1-46           (c)  A regional development agreement may allow:
1-47                 (1)  any type of annexation of any part of the land in
1-48     the district to be deferred for a mutually agreeable period of
1-49     time;
1-50                 (2)  facilities or services to be provided to the land
1-51     within the district by any party to the agreement or by any other
1-52     person, including optional, backup, emergency, mutual aid, or
1-53     supplementary facilities or services;
1-54                 (3)  payments to be made by the municipality to the
1-55     district or another person or by the district or another person to
1-56     the municipality for services provided to the district or
1-57     municipality;
1-58                 (4)  standards for requesting and receiving any form of
1-59     required consent or approval from the municipality;
1-60                 (5)  a district to issue bonds, notes, refunding bonds,
1-61     or other forms of indebtedness;
1-62                 (6)  the coordination of local, regional, and areawide
1-63     planning;
1-64                 (7)  remedies for breach of the agreement;
 2-1                 (8)  the modification, amendment, renewal, extension,
 2-2     or termination of the agreement;
 2-3                 (9)  any other district to join the agreement at any
 2-4     time;
 2-5                 (10)  third-party beneficiaries to be specifically
 2-6     designated and conferred rights or remedies under the agreement;
 2-7     and
 2-8                 (11)  any other term to which the parties agree.
 2-9           (d)  A regional development agreement must be:
2-10                 (1)  in writing;
2-11                 (2)  approved by the governing body of the municipality
2-12     and the district; and
2-13                 (3)  recorded:
2-14                       (A)  in the real property records of any county
2-15     in which any part of a district that is party to the agreement is
2-16     located; and
2-17                       (B)  in any manner that complies with Subchapter
2-18     J, Chapter 49, Water Code.
2-19           (e)  Subject to compliance with Subsection (d)(1) and (3),
2-20     another district may join or become a party to a regional
2-21     development agreement in the manner authorized in the agreement.
2-22           (f)  A regional development agreement does not need to
2-23     describe the land contained within the boundaries of a district
2-24     that is a party to the agreement.  The agreement must be recorded
2-25     in the deed records of any county in which any land in the district
2-26     is located.
2-27           (g)  A regional development agreement binds each party to the
2-28     agreement and each owner and future owner of land that is subject
2-29     to the agreement.  If a party or landowner is excluded or removed
2-30     from an agreement, the removal or exclusion is effective on the
2-31     recordation requirement of Subsection (d)(3).
2-32           (h)  A regional development agreement may not require a
2-33     district to provide public services and facilities to a person to
2-34     whom the district is not otherwise authorized to provide services
2-35     or facilities or to make payments from any source from which the
2-36     district is not otherwise authorized to make payments.
2-37           (i)  A district may contract with any person for services or
2-38     facilities to be provided at no cost to the district or for the
2-39     payment of funds by the person in support of a regional development
2-40     agreement.
2-41           (j)  A regional development agreement and any action taken
2-42     under the agreement is not subject to any method of approval under
2-43     the Water Code or any method of appeal under the Water Code.
2-44           (k)  Section 42.023 and Sections 42.041(b)-(e) do not apply
2-45     to any land or owner of land within a district that is a party to a
2-46     regional development agreement during a period of deferral of
2-47     annexation established in a regional development agreement.  An
2-48     annexation proceeding that is not completed before the effective
2-49     date of this section is suspended during the deferral period.
2-50           (l)  This section shall be liberally construed so as to give
2-51     effect to its legislative purposes and to sustain the validity of a
2-52     regional development agreement if the agreement was entered into
2-53     under or in anticipation of this section.
2-54           SECTION 3.  An agreement entered into in anticipation of this
2-55     Act is not invalid because of the agreement's authorization,
2-56     execution, or delivery before the effective date of this Act.
2-57           SECTION 4.  The legislature finds that there exists a public
2-58     necessity to make certain the law governing the authority of
2-59     municipalities and certain conservation and reclamation districts
2-60     to enter into mutually acceptable agreements in lieu of annexation.
2-61     The public benefits from, and the legislative goal of conservation
2-62     and development of the natural resources of the state is furthered
2-63     by making certain that the existing law facilitates regional
2-64     development agreements.
2-65           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-66     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-67     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-68     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-69     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-1     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-2     passage, and it is so enacted.
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