HBA-TYH H.B. 678 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 678
By: Williams
Land & Resource Mgmt.
4/5/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The 1963 municipal annexation act established a five mile extraterritorial
jurisdiction (ETJ) around the city limits of large cities.  Some cities
have extended their ETJs through strip annexations to include communities
15 to 20 miles outside the city limits.  The purpose of H.B. 678 is to
"roll back" the ETJ of a city to the five contiguous miles around its city
limits.  H.B. 678 redefines the ETJ of a city with a population of 1.5
million by excluding a planned community with a population exceeding 30,000
whose owner or developer petitioned the city for inclusion in the ETJ, and
any land added to the ETJ through strip annexations of areas less than 500
feet in width.  This bill also eliminates any land added to a city's ETJ
through past strip annexations of areas less than 500 feet in width. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter Z, Chapter 42, Local Government Code, by
adding Section 42.905, as follows: 

Sec. 42.905.  EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN LAND FROM EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION
OF MUNICIPALITY WITH POPULATION OF MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION.  (a)  Provides
that the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of a municipality with a
population of more than 1.5 million does not include: 

(1)  a planned community with a population of more than 30,000 that would
be contained within the  municipality's ETJ as the result of a request by
the planned community's owner or developer; and 

(2)  any land that would not have been included in the municipality's ETJ
but for the past or future annexation of a municipally owned airport, water
reservoir, or lake, including adjacent lands, connected to the municipality
by one or more annexed strips of land that are less than 500 feet in width
and that include all or part of a roadway, canal, or other waterway.  

(b)  Prohibits the municipality's boundaries surrounding the airport, water
reservoir, or lake, including adjacent lands, along with the boundaries of
any strip less than 500 feet in width connecting to the municipality, from
being taken into consideration in determining the municipality's ETJ.
Requires the ETJ to be determined as if the airport, water reservoir, lake,
adjacent lands, and strips less than 500 feet in width had not been
annexed.  

SECTION 2.  (a)  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

(b) Provides that if immediately before the effective date of this act, the
ETJ of a municipality includes land described by Section 42.905, Local
Government Code, as  added by this act, the boundaries of the ETJ are
revised on the effective dat of this Act to exclude the land. 

(c)  Prohibits a person from initiating incorporation proceedings for any
portion of the described area and the described area from being included
within the ETJ of any other municipality before September 1, 2007, if
immediately before the effective date of this Act, the ETJ of a
municipality includes land described by Section 42.905(a)(1), Local
Government Code, as added by this act. 

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.