S.B. 709 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


S.B. 709
By: Jackson
County Affairs
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
This bill lowers the population bracket from 500,000 to 250,00 for
counties to enter into leasepurchase agreements.  Galveston County
Commissioners Court needs this bracket to be able to enter into an
agreement for the land where they plan to build a new jail. 

An amendment was added in committee that will also allow the commissioners
courts of these counties to enter into a licensing agreement with wireless
communications service providers.  This is to allow the counties to share
communication towers with telecommunication companies.  In most areas
counties already enter into these agreements, but the commissioners court
in Denton County needs explicit legislation to do so. 

There are seven counties in Texas  that have population over 500,000,
Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, El Paso and Hidalgo.  Under the
current official census numbers, this legislation will include eight more
counties, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Cameron, Nueces, Montgomery,
Jefferson and Galveston 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS
Section 1 of SB 709 amends the title of the section 263.053 of the Local
Government Code to reflect the population cap change to 500,000.   

Section 2 amends 263.053 Local Government Code rasing the population cap
to 500,000.    

EFFECTIVE DATE
Immediate effective date with two-thirds vote of each house, if not
September 1, 2003.