BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center	S.B. 2370
	By: Campbell
	Local Government
	4/11/2023
	As Filed

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

S.B. 2370 aims to amend the Special District Local Laws Code by creating the Comal County Water Improvement District No 3 (WID). The bill provides a way for voters in this district to petition for a division of the emergency services district overlaying the WID, in order to create a new emergency services district (ESD), after a public hearing and through an election. The purpose of this bill is to remove the WID from ESD 7 while keeping ESD 7 whole with regard to their property and sales tax collections, and to keep an agreement between the City of New Braunfels and Southstar Communities, the current property owner, intact. The WID encompasses land that was owned by the Texas General Land Office and sold to Southstar in 2021 for the development of a significant project in Comal County on the I-35 corridor, with parkland, trail connectivity, and housing. The purchase agreement required a development agreement with the City of New Braunfels, which included a strategic partnership agreement (SPA) for the limited annexation by the City and the sharing of sales tax collections for economic development. However, ESD 7 held an election in November 2021, capturing all of the available local sales tax, which undermined the SPA and the development agreement. S.B. 2370 provides the steps to remove the WID from ESD 7 in order to bring the site back to the baseline of where it was when the property was purchased and the agreement with the City was made.

 

As proposed, S.B. 2370 amends current law relating to the provision of emergency services in Comal County Water Improvement District No. 3.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 8489, Subtitle F, Title 5, Special District Local Laws Code, by adding Section 8489.111, as follows:

 

Sec. 8489.111. EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT DIVISION. (a) Authorizes all or part of the Comal County Water Improvement District No. 3 (district), if the district is located in an emergency services district, to be divided out into a new emergency services district by petition to the county judge of at least sixty percent of the district's qualified voters.

 

(b) Requires that a petition for division include:

 

(1) the name of the new emergency services district to be created, with the name of the county and the proper consecutive number inserted; and

 

(2) a description of the territory proposed to be in the new emergency services district's territory.

 

(c) Authorizes the petition to include an agreement with a neighboring municipality to provide fire and emergency medical services through the new emergency services district. Requires that such agreement be evidence that the division is feasible as required under Section 8489.111(g)(2)(B).

 

(d)� Requires the commissioners court to set a place, date, and time for a hearing to consider the petition no later than 30 days from receipt of the petition.

 

(e) Requires the commissioners court to issue a notice of the hearing that includes:

 

(1) the name of the proposed district;

 

(2) a description of the proposed district's boundaries; and

 

(3) the place, date, and time of the hearing on the petition.

 

(f) Requires the county to publish the notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the district once a week for two consecutive weeks. Requires that the first publication occur not later than the 21st day before the date on which the hearing will be held.

 

(g)� Requires the commissioners court to consider the petition at a hearing on the petition for the division of the existing emergency services district.

 

(1) Authorizes any interested person to appear before the county to support or oppose the division.

 

(2) Requires the commissioners court to approve the petition no later than the 10th day after the date of the hearing if the commissioners finds that:

 

(A) the petition contains the number of signatures required under Section 8489.111(a); and

 

(B) the proposed division is feasible.

 

(h) Requires the commissioners court, on granting a petition to divide the emergency services district, to order an election to be held in the territory of the proposed new emergency services district to confirm the division of the existing emergency services district and authorize the imposition of a tax not exceeding the rate allowed by Section 48-e (Emergency Services Districts), Article III (Legislative Department), Texas Constitution.

 

(1) Requires that notice of the election be given in same matter as the notice of hearing under Section 8489.111(f).

 

(2) Requires that the election be held on the first authorized uniform election date prescribed by the Election Code that allows sufficient time to comply with the requirements of law.

 

(3) Requires that the ballot be printed to provide for voting for or against the proposition: "Dividing the Comal County Emergency District No. to create a new emergency services district" and authorizing the imposition of a tax which is prohibited from exceeding the tax rate of the existing emergency services district.

 

(4) Requires the emergency services district, if a majority of voters voting at the election vote to divide the existing emergency services district, to be divided by order of the county and requires the territory of the new emergency services district to be immediately disannexed by the existing emergency services district. Requires that the order to divide the district:

 

(A) create the new emergency services district in accordance with Chapter 775 (Coordination of Colonia Initiatives), Government Code;

 

(B) name the new district in accordance with the petition;

 

(C) include the metes and bounds description of the territory of the new emergency services district; and

 

(D) appoint the board of the new emergency services district in the manner described in Section 775.034, Texas Government Code.

 

(5) Requires the new emergency services district each to reimburse the county for the cost of an election held under this section.

 

(i) Requires the board of the new emergency services district to govern the territory of the existing district after disannexation.

 

(j) Provides that the disannexation of territory from an emergency services district under this section does not diminish or impair the rights of holders of any outstanding and unpaid bonds of that district.

 

(1) Prohibits the existing emergency services district, upon the earlier of receipt of the petition or publication of notice of the petition and until the date of the election and, if the proposition passes, the disannexation of territory, from pledging ad valorem tax or sales and use tax of the territory of the proposed new emergency services district for any obligation.

 

SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2023.