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78R11610 DRH-F
By: Guillen, et al. H.B. No. 722
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 722:
By: Olivo C.S.H.B. No. 722
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers of the commissioners court in certain
counties that have no incorporated municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 81, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 81.033 to read as follows:
Sec. 81.033. POWER OF COMMISSIONERS COURT IN COUNTY WITH NO
INCORPORATED TERRITORY. (a) This section applies only to a
commissioners court of a county that has a population of more than
7,500, is located on an international boundary, and contains no
incorporated territory of a municipality.
(b) If approved at an election held in the county for that
purpose, the commissioners court has, in addition to the powers
given to it under this code or other law, all the powers of the
governing body of a Type A general-law municipality, including the
powers contained in Subtitle A, Title 7, except that:
(1) the commissioners court may not regulate an
activity outside the county;
(2) the commissioners court may not regulate a tract
of land that is appraised as agricultural or open-space land by the
appraisal district; and
(3) if this code or other law provides for a procedure
by which a county exercises a power, the commissioners court must
use that procedure.
(c) For an election under this section, the ballot shall be
prepared to permit voting for or against the proposition: "Granting
(name of county) County the authority to enact ordinances in the
same manner as a general-law municipality."
(d) If a majority of the votes cast at the election favor
the proposition, the commissioners court has the powers described
by Subsection (b).
(e) If territory of the county becomes incorporated in a
municipality:
(1) in the area outside the municipality and outside
the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction, the authority of
the commissioners court to exercise a power under this section:
(A) expires, on the date of the incorporation,
with regard to a subject on which the court has not previously acted
under this section; and
(B) continues with regard to a subject on which
the court has previously acted under this section; and
(2) in the area in the municipality or in the
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality, the authority
of the commissioners court to exercise a power under this section
expires on the 180th day after the date of the municipal
incorporation.
(f) On receipt of a petition signed by at least 10 percent of
the county's registered voters, the commissioners court shall call
an election on the repeal of an order or ordinance authorized by
this section on the first uniform election date that occurs after
the 90th day after the date the petition is filed. The order or
ordinance is repealed if a majority of the votes cast at the
election favor repeal. A petition requiring an election under this
subsection may not be filed sooner than the fifth anniversary of the
date of an election held under this subsection.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.