Bill Text: TX SB659 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the expansion of the territory of an emergency services district into the territory of a municipality.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-17 - Referred to Local Government [SB659 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB659-Introduced.html
| 88R1255 JTZ-D | ||
| By: Eckhardt | S.B. No. 659 | |
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| relating to the expansion of the territory of an emergency services | ||
| district into the territory of a municipality. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 775.051(a), Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| amended to read as follows: | ||
| (a) Qualified voters who own taxable real property in a | ||
| defined territory that is not included in a district may file a | ||
| petition with the secretary of the board requesting the inclusion | ||
| of the territory in the district. The petition must: | ||
| (1) be signed by at least 50 qualified voters who own | ||
| taxable real property in the territory or a majority of those | ||
| voters, whichever is less; and | ||
| (2) show the name of each municipality whose consent | ||
| must be obtained under Section 775.0515. | ||
| SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 775, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 775.0515 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 775.0515. EXPANSION OF DISTRICT THAT INCLUDES | ||
| MUNICIPAL TERRITORY. (a) Before territory in a municipality's | ||
| limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction may be annexed into a | ||
| district under Section 775.051, a written request to be annexed | ||
| into the district must be presented to the municipality's governing | ||
| body after the petition is filed under Section 775.051. Except as | ||
| provided by Subsection (c), that territory may not be annexed into | ||
| the district unless the municipality's governing body gives its | ||
| written consent on or before the 60th day after the date the | ||
| municipality receives the request. | ||
| (b) If the municipality's governing body does not consent to | ||
| annexation within the 60-day period prescribed by Subsection (a), a | ||
| majority of the qualified voters and the owners of at least 50 | ||
| percent of the territory in the municipality's limits or | ||
| extraterritorial jurisdiction that would have been annexed into the | ||
| district may petition the governing body to make fire control and | ||
| emergency medical and ambulance services available in the | ||
| territory. The petition must be submitted to the governing body not | ||
| later than the 90th day after the date the municipality receives the | ||
| request under Subsection (a). | ||
| (c) If the municipality's governing body refuses or fails to | ||
| act on the petition requesting fire control and emergency medical | ||
| and ambulance services within six months after the date on which the | ||
| petition submitted under Subsection (b) is received, the governing | ||
| body's refusal or failure to act constitutes consent for the | ||
| territory that is the subject of the petition to be annexed into the | ||
| district. | ||
| (d) If the territory proposed to be annexed into the | ||
| district will include territory designated by a municipality as an | ||
| industrial district under Section 42.044, Local Government Code, | ||
| consent to include the industrial district must be obtained from | ||
| the municipality's governing body in the same manner provided by | ||
| this section for obtaining consent to annex territory within the | ||
| limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality. | ||
| (e) If the municipality's governing body consents to | ||
| annexation of territory within its limits or extraterritorial | ||
| jurisdiction, or in an industrial district, the territory may be | ||
| annexed into the district in the same manner as other territory is | ||
| annexed under this chapter. | ||
| (f) A governing body's consent to annex territory into the | ||
| district expires six months after the date the consent is given. | ||
| (g) This section does not apply if territory proposed to be | ||
| annexed into the district is in the unincorporated area of a county | ||
| with a population of 3.3 million or more. | ||
| SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to | ||
| a petition for the expansion of an emergency services district | ||
| filed with the board of the emergency services district on or after | ||
| the effective date of this Act. A petition pending before the board | ||
| of an emergency services district on the effective date of this Act | ||
| is governed by the law in effect at the time the petition was filed, | ||
| and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
