List of Prefiled Bills Through January 11, 1999
PLANNING-RELATED BILLS INTRODUCED IN 76th TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Prefiling of bills began on November 9th. The Legislative Session begins, Tuesday, January 12th. CPAT is compiling information of bills from the Texas Municipal League and from Gallery Watch. Planning-related bills filed as of January 11th include:
House Bills
HB 52 (Cuellar) -- County Planning Commission: would allow the county commissioners court in a populous county to establish a planning commission to review, evaluate, and grant or deny plats. As currently written, this would apply only to counties that have a population of 100,000 or more, or in economically-distressed counties along the Rio Grande.
HB 116 (T. Smith) -- Board of Adjustment: would define the specific courts that could hear appeals from a board of adjustment.
HB 238 (Krusee) -- Annexation: would provide that a city may not annex land contiguous that is less than 1,000 feet in width, that a city may not annex territory that is only in ETJ because of a previous annexation less than 1,000 feet in width, and limits the expansion of the ETJ to only one mile if it is the result of an annexation of city-owned property that lies outside of the previous ETJ.
HB 239 (Krusee) -- Annexation: would provide that when a resident of an annexed area seeks a writ of mandamus to enforce the service plan, the burden of proof lies with the city; if a judge issues a writ, the judge may impose fines on the city, require refund of property taxes, and require city to pay attorney's fees and court costs; and if a city dissannexes territory it must refund property taxes collected.
HB 247 (Puente) -- Neighborhood Associations: would allow city to allow neighborhood association volunteers to help enforce health and safety violations that can be observed without entering property.
HB 313 (Giddings) -- Neighborhood Empowerment Zones: would allow cities to create neighborhood empowerment zones to promote affordable housing or economic development, or to increase social services or public safety in the neighborhood.
HB 322 (Corte) -- Annexation: Would prohibit certain annexations within counties of over 1.5 million people unless landowners have a vote.
HB 379 (Williams) -- Annexation: Would require annexations by cities in counties over 1.6 million to hold an election within the area to be annexed.
HB 423 (Turner) -- County Subdivisions -- would broaden authority of counties to require plats and correct the and/or problem for County subdivisions in Section 232 of Local Government Code, but establishes exemptions for transfers to family members and to lots less than 10 acres. It does add the ability for counties to adopt specifications and regulate drainage.
HB 430 (Turner) -- Habitat Conservation plans: Establishes requirements on cities and counties that plan to implement a habitat conservation plan to protect endangered species.
HB 439 (Krusee) -- Annexation: This is an omnibus bill that includes many recommendations from the Senate Interim Committee on Annexation. Among other things, the bill would reduce the expansion of ETJ to only one mile from newly annexed territory; would require that land uses be allowed to continue within annexed area; limits annexations only to areas identified in a three-year municipal annexation plan; requires a city to inventory all public and private services and facilities in area to be annexed; provides that a city may not annex contiguous land less than 1,000 feet in width; requires city to provide police and fire protection, emergency medical service and maintenance of public works immediately rather than within 60 days; requires cities to provide full municipal services in 2.5 years rather than 4.5 years; provides that annexation may not have effect of reducing services; requires city to provide same level of infrastructure maintenance as before annexation; provides that city has burden of proof in responding to writ of mandamus, that court may impose fines and require attorney's fees, and that city must refund property taxes previously collected by City; requires city to negotiate service plan with residents if area to be annexed has more than 250 people, and that city must pay for arbitration; provides that organized district or homeowners association may force city into non-annexation agreement; and require seller of property to inform buyer if property is included in City's annexation plan. SB 89 (Madla) is the companion bill.
HB 473 (Dukes) -- Location of Hazardous Facilities: would prohibit construction of a hazardous material, hazardous waste facility, or bulk fuel storage within five miles of a school, business, or place of worship.
HB 479 (Seaman) -- County Regulation of Nuisances: would remove population limits on county regulation of nuisances and add discarding of refuse on certain lands.
HB 485 (Hill) -- Municipal Validation Act: would validate any municipal act or proceeding.
HB 508 (Wohlgemuth) -- Street Construction or repair: would allow County to improve streets in City that are not integral part of county system, but only in counties with only one incorporated municipality.
HB 509 (Hochberg) -- Authority of JP Courts in enforcing Deed restrictions: would provide that a justice of the peace may not grant an injunction in a deed restriction dispute.
HB 560 (Dukes) -- Approval of Plats: would expand the language on approval of plats, including establishing time limits on determining completeness of plat applications and extending the review time from 30 to 90 days.
HB 588 (West) -- County-Ordinance Making Powers: would allow counties to enact ordinances in the unincorporated areas to protect health, safety and welfare.
HB 601 (Hochberg) -- Religious freedom: would prohibit a government agency from substantially burdening a person's free exercise of religion unless it is furthering a governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. (SB 138 is companion)
Senate Bills
SB 56 (Harris) -- Nuisances: would repeal statute that allows cities to abate common nuisances at apartment complexes within a city.
SB 89 (Madla) -- Annexation: Companion bill to HB 439.
SB 138 (Wentworth) -- Religious Freedom: Companion bill to HB 601.
SB 142 ( ) -- County Flood regulation: amends language of Water Code to limit county enforcement of flood insurance only to counties with two cities greater than 250,000 population and a total population over 2.8 million.
The complete text of prefiled bills can soon be retrieved at