BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4175

By: Harris, Cody

Land & Resource Management

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The concept of municipal extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) in Texas was introduced when the Texas Legislature enacted the Municipal Annexation Act in the 1960s. A municipality's ETJ is the contiguous unincorporated land adjacent to, and within a certain distance of, its corporate limits that is not within another municipality's ETJ.

Municipalities are authorized to enforce certain regulations within their ETJ to ensure the consistency of infrastructure and permitted conduct and activities upon the eventual annexation of the ETJ into the municipality. However, municipalities have had a history of enacting burdensome regulations and ordinances that affect the activities and structures that landowners may perform and construct in an ETJ. These regulations have led to protracted and expensive litigation adding to our already taxed judicial system. Since ETJ residents are not permitted to vote in municipal elections, they do not have a voice in electing the officials who are ultimately responsible for enacting these regulations, which exacerbates the problem.

In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed H.B. 347, which eliminated forced annexation in Texas. Consequently, the need for cities to enforce regulations within their ETJ as a prerequisite to annexation, and indeed, the need for an ETJ itself, has been drastically reduced, if not eliminated. It is reasonable, therefore, to require municipalities to treat municipal residents and ETJ residents similarly, that is, to require municipalities to provide municipal services to land in their ETJ before the municipality may regulate activities or structures on such land. C.S.H.B. 4175 seeks to address this issue by providing for the provision of municipal services in an extraterritorial jurisdiction under certain circumstances.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4175 amends the Local Government Code to require a municipality that extends to its extraterritorial jurisdiction the application of a municipal ordinance or rule and denies or refuses to permit an activity or structure on a property in that area under the ordinance or rule to provide to the property full municipal services applicable to an annexed area not later than 30 months after the date of the denial or refusal.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4175 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced applied only to the extension of the application of a municipal ordinance, the substitute also applies to the extension of the application of a municipal rule.

The substitute omits a provision present in the introduced establishing that the bill applies only to a municipal denial of or refusal to permit an activity or structure on or after the bill's effective date.