By: Creighton S.B. No. 3015

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to local government regulation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

ARTICLE 1.

SECTION 1.01. This Act shall be known as the Texas Home Ownership and Market Efficiency Act or the Texas HOME Act.

SECTION 1.02. The legislature finds that:

(1) the state continues to attract employers and add historic numbers of jobs;

(2) home ownership is not just the American Dream, it is the Texan Dream;

(3) the state faces an availability and affordability crisis;

(4) more Texans than ever cannot afford to own a home and live in the community of their choice, near their work;

(5) unnecessary and burdensome local government regulation is a major contributor to this affordability crisis;

(6) burdensome local government regulation:

(A) slows or prevents a market demanded supply of housing;

(B) retards economic growth;

(C) interferes with the orderly development of quality public infrastructure;

(D) causes unnecessary and expensive delays on business; and

(E) ultimately, makes housing less available and affordable than it should and could be;

(7) legislative session after legislative session, the Texas Legislature passes laws to reign-in the over-regulation of local government;

(8) many local governments respond by continuing, and even advancing, the level of regulation in contravention of state law; and

(9) the citizens of the state who bear the cost of over-regulation do not have adequate means to protest over-regulation and require compliance with state law.

ARTICLE 2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REGULATION

SECTION 2.01. Subchapter F, Chapter 43, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 43.1215 to read as follows:

Sec. 43.1215. EFFECT OF LIMITED PURPOSE ANNEXATION. After annexation for limited purposes, the area remains in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality.

SECTION 2.02. Section 212.172, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:

(l) Any provision of a contract that provides for the full purpose annexation of land into a municipality, whether conditional or unconditional, without following the procedures of Chapter 43 is void and unenforceable as against public policy.

SECTION 2.03. Subchapter A, Chapter 232, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 232.0014 to read as follows:

Sec. 232.0014. CHAPTER-WIDE LIMITATION OF REGULATION. Notwithstanding any other law, a commissioners court may not regulate, either directly or indirectly, under this chapter the size of a lot, dimensions of a lot, width of a lot frontage, distance a lot must be set back from a road or property line, or another component of lot density on a particular tract of land.

SECTION 2.04. Subchapter A, Chapter 232, Local Government Code, is amended by amending Section 232.0031 and adding Section 232.00315 to read as follows:

Sec. 232.0031. STANDARD FOR ROADS IN SUBDIVISION. (a) A county may not impose under Section 232.003 a higher standard for streets or roads in a subdivision than the county imposes on itself for the construction of streets or roads with a similar type and amount of traffic.

(b) A county may not adopt or enforce an order, rule, or other measure regulating the design or construction of a public road or bridge that serves a developed tract of land if the order, rule, or other measure conflicts with or is more stringent than a design or construction standard adopted by the Texas Transportation Commission.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, the commissioners court of a county may not adopt or enforce an order, rule, or other measure that regulates the construction and maintenance of a public road that is not or will not be maintained by the county.

Sec. 232.00315. ROAD MAINTENANCE. A county may not impose a requirement, including a provision in a development agreement or plat notation, that an applicant or third party other than the county or the applicant agree to maintain a public road as a condition of plat approval, A provision of an agreement that violates this section is void and unenforceable as against public policy.

SECTION 2.05. Subsection 247.001(4), Local Government Code, as added by Chapter 654 (H.B. 14), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

(4) "Plan" means a subdivision development plan, including a subdivision plan, subdivision construction plan, site plan, land development application, and site development plan [has the meaning assigned by Section 212.001].

SECTION 2.06. Section 247.002, Local Government Code, as added by Chapter 654 (H.B. 14), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 247.002. OPTION FOR THIRD-PARTY REVIEW OR INSPECTION [REQUIRED]. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, an applicant for [If a regulatory authority does not approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove a development document by the 15th day after the date prescribed by a provision of this code for the approval, conditional approval, or disapproval of the document,] any required review of a development [the] document may obtain review of the document from [be performed by] a person:

(1) other than:

(A) the applicant; or

(B) a person whose work is the subject of the application; and

(2) who is:

(A) employed by the regulatory authority to review development documents;

(B) employed by another political subdivision to review development documents, if the regulatory authority has approved the person to review development documents; or

(C) an engineer licensed under Chapter 1001, Occupations Code.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, an owner of land or an improvement to the land that requires a development [If a regulatory authority does not conduct a required development inspection by the 15th day after the date prescribed by a provision of this code for conducting the inspection, the] inspection may obtain the inspection from [be conducted by] a person:

(1) other than:

(A) the owner of the land or improvement to the land that is the subject of the inspection; or

(B) a person whose work is the subject of the inspection; and

(2) who is:

(A) certified to inspect buildings by the International Code Council;

(B) employed by the regulatory authority as a building inspector;

(C) employed by another political subdivision as a building inspector, if the regulatory authority has approved the person to perform inspections; or

(D) an engineer licensed under Chapter 1001, Occupations Code.

SECTION 2.07. Chapter 580, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 580.006 to read as follows:

Sec. 580.006. REGULATION OF CERTAIN WATER AND WASTEWATER FACILITIES. A municipality may not in the extraterritorial jurisdiction and a county may not in the unincorporated area of the county regulate the size, type, or method of construction of a water or wastewater facility that can be constructed to serve a tract of land if the facility meets the minimum standards established for water or wastewater facilities by state and federal regulatory entities.

SECTION 2.08. Section 13.2451, Water Code, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:

(a-1) A municipality may provide retail water or sewer service in an area removed from its extraterritorial jurisdiction under Chapter 42, Local Government Code, without a certificate of public convenience and necessity.

SECTION 2.09. Subchapter H, Chapter 49, Water Code, is amended by adding Section 49.2131 to read as follows:

Sec. 49.2131. CONTRACTS WITH OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS. (a) This section applies only to a district with a board of the majority of which is appointed by the governing body of a municipality.

(b) A district that sells or contracts for the sale of water to another political subdivision may not adopt or enforce an order, rule, or other measure that discriminates between political subdivisions to which the district sells or contracts for the sale of water.

SECTION 2.10. Section 54.016, Water Code, is amended by adding Subsections (k), (l), and (m) to read as follows:

(k) A city may not require a payment from a developer of land in the district in consideration for its consent.

(l) A city's consent shall not limit the amount of the district's bonds.

(m) The provisions of an agreement conflicting with this section are void and unenforceable.

SECTION 2.11. Section 54.0161, Water Code, is amended by adding subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d) A county may not require the petitioners to enter into an agreement that imposes rules and regulations for the development of the land other than the county's rules and regulations adopted under Chapter 232, Local Government Code. An agreement conflicting with this subsection is void and unenforceable.

SECTION 2.12. Section 54.021, Water Code, is amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:

(f) Notwithstanding any other law, the rights of a municipality and a county under this subchapter are the exclusive rights of a municipality or a county relating to the granting or refusal of the petition by the commission.

ARTICLE 3. REPEALER, TRANSITIONS, AND EFFECTIVE DATE

SECTION 3.01. The following provisions of the Local Government Code are repealed:

(1) Section 232.103; and

(2) Section 232.104.

SECTION 3.02. Chapter 247, Local Government Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to a development document or a request for a development inspection, as those terms are defined by Section 247.001, Local Government Code, that was not final on the effective date of this Act. A development document or request for a development inspection that was final before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the document or inspection immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3.03. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.