Bill Text: TX HB4038 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to the limitations period for actions challenging and validations regarding municipal annexation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-20 - Referred to Land & Resource Management [HB4038 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB4038-Introduced.html

---

88R13466 SCL-F
By: Hayes H.B. No. 4038

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the limitations period for actions challenging and
validations regarding municipal annexation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 16, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 16.039 to read as
follows:
Sec. 16.039. ANNEXATION. A person must bring suit to
challenge a municipal annexation of land not later than the 35th
anniversary of the annexation date.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 43.909 to read as follows:
Sec. 43.909. MUNICIPAL BOUNDARIES. Notwithstanding any
other law, municipal boundaries may not be validated for purposes
of this chapter. Compliance with this chapter is required
notwithstanding any other law that purports to validate a municipal
boundary unless that law explicitly validates the boundary for
purposes of this chapter.
SECTION 3. Section 51.003(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) This section does not apply to:
(1) an act or proceeding that was void at the time it
occurred;
(2) an act or proceeding that, under a statute of this
state or the United States, was a misdemeanor or felony at the time
the act or proceeding occurred;
(3) an incorporation or attempted incorporation of a
municipality[, or an annexation or attempted annexation of
territory by a municipality,] within the incorporated boundaries or
extraterritorial jurisdiction of another municipality that
occurred without the consent of the other municipality in violation
of Chapter 42 or 43;
(4) an ordinance that, at the time it was passed, was
preempted by a statute of this state or the United States, including
Section 1.06 or 109.57, Alcoholic Beverage Code; [or]
(5) a matter that on the effective date of this
section:
(A) is involved in litigation if the litigation
ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final
judgment of a court; or
(B) has been held invalid by a final judgment of a
court; or
(6) an ordinance annexing land.
SECTION 4. The following provisions of the Local Government
Code are repealed:
(1) Section 41.003; and
(2) Section 43.901.
SECTION 5. Section 16.039, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, as added by this Act, applies only to an action filed on or
after the effective date of this Act. An action filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the action was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 6. Section 43.909, Local Government Code, as added
by this Act, does not affect the validity of a municipal boundary
validated according to law before the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 7. Section 51.003(b), Local Government Code, as
amended by this Act, applies only to a municipal ordinance annexing
land that is adopted by the governing body of a municipality on or
after the effective date of this Act. An ordinance annexing land
that is adopted before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the ordinance was adopted, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 8. The repeal by this Act of Sections 41.003 and
43.901, Local Government Code, applies only to a municipal
ordinance adopted on or after the effective date of this Act. A
municipal ordinance adopted before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law in effect on the date the ordinance was
adopted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. 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, 2023.