HBA-EDN C.S.H.B. 2920 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2920
By: Jones, Elizabeth
Land & Resource Management
4/6/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a municipality or county is authorized to restrict the
location of sexually oriented businesses to particular areas or to prohibit
their location within a certain distance of a school, church, residential
neighborhood or other specified land use found to be inconsistent with the
operation of such a business.  However, regulations adopted by a
municipality apply only inside the corporate limits of that municipality,
and regulations adopted by a county apply only to the parts of that county
outside the corporate limits of a municipality.  Therefore, it is
conceivable that a sexually oriented business located in close proximity to
the boundary of a municipality could be in compliance with the ordinances
of one municipality, but be within a prohibited distance of a school,
church, or residential neighborhood located in an adjoining municipality.
Although the adjoining  municipality may have its own ordinances regarding
sexually oriented businesses, the ordinance could not be enforced across
jurisdictional boundaries, and the county has no authority to enforce the
ordinance.  C.S.H.B. 2920 authorizes a county to enforce its own sexually
oriented business regulations in cases where a municipality could not
enforce such regulations.          
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2920 amends the Local Government Code to authorize a county to
enforce the county's distance regulation regarding the location of a
sexually oriented business in a municipality if: 


_that business is located in one municipality and within 1,000 feet of the
corporate boundaries of another municipality; 

_the specified land use is located in that other municipality; and

_the governing bodies of both municipalities request the county to enforce
the county's distance regulation. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.  

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2920 modifies the original by stipulating that for a county to be
authorized to enforce its distance regulation, the sexually oriented
business must be within 1,000 feet of the corporate boundaries of another
municipality and the governing bodies of both municipalities, rather than
either municipality, must request county enforcement.  The substitute also
provides that the Act takes effect immediately if it receives the necessary
vote, rather than September 1, 2001.