S.B. No. 1596
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to emergency services districts.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (c), Section 775.022, Health
  and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  If a municipality completes all other procedures
  necessary to annex territory in a district and if the municipality
  intends to remove the territory from the district and be the sole
  provider of [provide] emergency services to the territory by the
  use of municipal personnel or by some method other than by use of
  the district, the municipality shall send written notice of those
  facts [that fact] to the board. The municipality must send the
  notice to the secretary of the board by certified mail, return
  receipt requested. The territory remains part of the district and
  does not become part of the municipality until the secretary of the
  board receives the notice. On receipt of the notice, the board
  shall immediately change its records to show that the territory has
  been disannexed from the district and shall cease to provide
  further services to the residents of that territory.  This
  subsection does not require a municipality to remove from a
  district territory the municipality has annexed.
         (c)  If a municipality removes [annexes] territory from [in]
  a district that the municipality has annexed, the municipality
  shall compensate the district immediately after disannexation of
  the territory under Subsection (a) in an amount equal to the annexed
  territory's pro rata share of the district's bonded and other
  indebtedness as computed according to the formula in Subsection
  (e). The district shall apply compensation received from a
  municipality under this subsection exclusively to the payment of
  the annexed territory's pro rata share of the district's bonded and
  other indebtedness.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 775, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Section 775.045 to read as follows:
         Sec. 775.045.  APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LAWS. (a)  Except
  as provided by Subsection (b), notwithstanding any other law:
               (1)  Section 1301.551(i), Occupations Code, applies to
  a district as if the district were a municipality; and
               (2)  Section 233.062, Local Government Code, applies to
  a district as if the district were in an unincorporated area of a
  county.
         (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a district:
               (1)  that before February 1, 2013, has adopted a fire
  code, fire code amendments, or other requirements in conflict with
  Subsection (a); and
               (2)  whose territory is located:
                     (A)  in or adjacent to a general law municipality
  with a population of less than 4,000 that is served by a water
  control and improvement district governed by Chapter 51, Water
  Code; and
                     (B)  in a county that has a population of more than
  one million and is adjacent to a county with a population of more
  than 420,000.
         SECTION 3.  Section 43.056, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subsection (f) and adding Subsections (p) and
  (q) to read as follows:
         (f)  A service plan may not:
               (1)  require the creation of another political
  subdivision;
               (2)  require a landowner in the area to fund the capital
  improvements necessary to provide municipal services in a manner
  inconsistent with Chapter 395 unless otherwise agreed to by the
  landowner; [or]
               (3)  provide services in the area in a manner that would
  have the effect of reducing by more than a negligible amount the
  level of fire and police protection and emergency medical services
  provided within the corporate boundaries of the municipality before
  annexation;
               (4)  provide services in the area in a manner that would
  have the effect of reducing by more than a negligible amount the
  level of fire and police protection and emergency medical services
  provided within the area before annexation; or
               (5)  cause a reduction in fire and police protection
  and emergency medical services within the area to be annexed below
  that of areas within the corporate boundaries of the municipality
  with similar topography, land use, and population density.
         (p)  This subsection applies only to a municipality in a
  county with a population of more than one million and less than 1.5
  million.  For a municipality that has adopted Chapter 143 and
  directly employs firefighters, a service plan that includes the
  provision of services to an area that, at the time the service plan
  is adopted, is located in the territory of an emergency services
  district:
               (1)  must require the municipality's fire department to
  provide initial response to the annexed territory that is
  equivalent to that provided to other areas within the corporate
  boundaries of the municipality with similar topography, land use,
  and population density;
               (2)  may not provide for municipal fire services to the
  annexed area solely or primarily by means of an automatic aid or
  mutual aid agreement with the affected emergency services district
  or other third-party provider of services; and
               (3)  may authorize the emergency services district to
  provide supplemental fire and emergency medical services to the
  annexed area by means of an automatic aid or mutual aid agreement.
         (q)  This chapter does not affect the obligation of a
  municipality that has adopted Chapter 143 to provide police, fire,
  or emergency medical services within the municipality's corporate
  boundaries by means of personnel classified in accordance with that
  chapter.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1596 passed the Senate on
  April 25, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0;
  May 24, 2013, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
  requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 25, 2013, House
  granted request of the Senate; May 26, 2013, Senate adopted
  Conference Committee Report by the following vote:  Yeas 30,
  Nays 1.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1596 passed the House, with
  amendments, on May 20, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 139,
  Nays 0, two present not voting; May 25, 2013, House granted request
  of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
  May 26, 2013, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
  following vote:  Yeas 147, Nays 1, one present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
             Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor