HBA- MPA S.B. 624 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 624 By: Harris County Affairs 4/16/1999 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Crime control and prevention districts have been created by several cities across the state. S.B. 624 extends the currently existing five-, ten-, 15-, and 20-year renewal periods that smaller cities enjoy to larger cities, allows a city council or commissioners court to serve as directors of a district, expands the method available for financing police facilities, clarifies that administrative procedure laws do not apply to single city crime districts, and addresses the manner in which a district that is not continued by voters is to be dissolved. 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 C, Chapter 363, Local Government Code, by adding Section 363.1015, as follows: Sec. 363.1015. ALTERNATE FORMS OF APPOINTMENT: BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Authorizes the governing body of a municipality or county to appoint by resolution the governing body's membership as the board of directors of a crime control and prevention district (district). Authorizes the governing body, in a district in which it does not act as the board, to create a board by having each member of the governing body appoint one director, who serves at the pleasure of the governing body and for a term concurrent with the appointing member's term. SECTION 2. Amends Section 363.155, Local Government Code, by adding Subsection (d), to exempt a district that contains only one municipality from the provisions of the administrative procedure law Chapter 2001 (Administrative Procedure), Government Code. SECTION 3. Amends Section 363.206, Local Government Code, by adding Subsections (d) and (e), as follows: (d) Provides that Subsection (b) (prohibiting a district from incurring a debt payable from revenues of the district not on hand) does not apply to an obligation issued or incurred in connection with the financing of construction or equipping of police facilities. Authorizes funds received by a municipality or other political subdivisions from a district for the financing of construction or equipping of police facilities to be used by the municipality or political subdivision to secure bonds for that purpose. (e) Defines "police facility," for the purposes of this chapter, as a police station or substation, police storefront, jail, or minimum security facility. SECTION 4. Amends Section 363.251(d), Local Government Code, to prohibit the board of directors of a district from holding a referendum under this subchapter (Referendum on Continuation or Dissolution of District) earlier than the fourth, rather than fifth, anniversary of the date the district was created. SECTION 5. Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 363, Local Government Code, by adding Section 363.2515, to authorize the board or the governing body of the county or municipality that created the district to specify that the district be continued only for 5,10, 15, or 20 years. Requires that the ballot for a continuation referendum under this section permit voting for or against the proposition, and sets forth language for such a ballot. SECTION 6. Amends Section 363.260(a), Local Government Code, to provide that a district, in which the majority of votes in a continuation referendum were cast either for dissolution or against continuation, is dissolved on the earlier of the last day of the district's fiscal year, or the 180th day after the date of the continuation or dissolution referendum. SECTION 7. (a) Repealer: Section 363.101(c), Local Government Code, which provides that a director may designate another person to serve in the director's absence. (b) Repealer: Sections 3 and 4, Chapter 1248, Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, relating to the appointment of board members, and the continuation of districts. (c) Provides that, to the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over any other Act of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999. SECTION 8. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 9. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Amendment #1 Amends proposed Section 363.206(e) to include municipal court in a list of facilities used to define police facility for the purposes of Chapter 363 (Crime Control and Prevention Districts).