Bill Text: TX SB2370 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the division of certain emergency services districts.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-18 - Effective immediately [SB2370 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB2370-Enrolled.html
| S.B. No. 2370 | ||
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| relating to the division of certain emergency services districts. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 8489, Special District Local Laws Code, | ||
| is amended by adding Subchapter F to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER F. DIVISION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT THAT | ||
| OVERLAPS WITH THE DISTRICT | ||
| Sec. 8489.251. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, | ||
| "improvement district" means the Comal County Water Improvement | ||
| District No. 3. | ||
| Sec. 8489.252. AUTHORITY TO DIVIDE DISTRICT. A county in | ||
| which the improvement district is located may by order divide an | ||
| emergency services district located in whole or in part in the | ||
| improvement district and wholly in the county in the manner | ||
| provided by this subchapter. | ||
| Sec. 8489.253. PETITION FOR DIVISION; NOTICE OF HEARING. | ||
| (a) Before an emergency services district may be divided under this | ||
| subchapter, the county judge must receive a petition for division | ||
| signed by at least 60 percent of the qualified voters of the | ||
| improvement district. | ||
| (b) A petition for division must include: | ||
| (1) the name of the new emergency services district to | ||
| be created; and | ||
| (2) a description of the proposed territory of the new | ||
| emergency services district. | ||
| (c) The petition may include an agreement with a neighboring | ||
| municipality to allow the municipality to provide fire and | ||
| emergency medical services through the new emergency services | ||
| district. | ||
| (d) Not later than the 30th day after the date the county | ||
| judge receives a petition under this section, the commissioners | ||
| court of the county shall set a place, date, and time for a hearing | ||
| to consider the petition. The commissioners court shall issue a | ||
| notice of the hearing that includes: | ||
| (1) the name of the proposed emergency services | ||
| district; | ||
| (2) a description of the proposed emergency services | ||
| district's boundaries; and | ||
| (3) the place, date, and time of the hearing on the | ||
| petition. | ||
| (e) A commissioners court of a county that issues notice of | ||
| a hearing under Subsection (d) shall publish the notice in a | ||
| newspaper of general circulation in the improvement district once a | ||
| week for two consecutive weeks. The first publication must occur | ||
| not later than the 21st day before the date on which the hearing | ||
| will be held. | ||
| Sec. 8489.254. HEARING ON DIVISION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES | ||
| DISTRICT. (a) At a hearing on a petition for the division of an | ||
| emergency services district under this subchapter, the | ||
| commissioners court shall consider the petition and each issue | ||
| relating to the division of the emergency services district. | ||
| (b) Any interested person may appear before the | ||
| commissioners court to support or oppose the division. | ||
| (c) The commissioners court shall approve the petition not | ||
| later than the 10th day after the date of the hearing if the | ||
| commissioners court finds that: | ||
| (1) the petition contains the number of signatures | ||
| required under Section 8489.253; and | ||
| (2) the proposed division is feasible. | ||
| (d) The commissioners court shall consider any agreement | ||
| described by Section 8489.253(c) submitted with the petition as | ||
| evidence that the division of the emergency services district is | ||
| feasible under Subsection (c) of this section. | ||
| Sec. 8489.255. ELECTION TO CONFIRM DIVISION. (a) If a | ||
| commissioners court of a county approves a petition under Section | ||
| 8489.254 to divide an emergency services district, the | ||
| commissioners court shall order an election to be held in the | ||
| territory of the proposed new emergency services district to: | ||
| (1) confirm the division of the existing emergency | ||
| services district; and | ||
| (2) authorize the imposition of a tax in the territory | ||
| of the new emergency services district not to exceed the rate | ||
| allowed by Section 48-e, Article III, Texas Constitution. | ||
| (b) Notice of the election shall be given in the same manner | ||
| as the notice of a hearing under Section 8489.253. | ||
| (c) The election shall be held on the first authorized | ||
| uniform election date prescribed by the Election Code that allows | ||
| sufficient time to comply with the requirements of law. | ||
| (d) The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or | ||
| against the proposition: "Dividing the (insert name of emergency | ||
| services district) to create a new emergency services district and | ||
| authorizing the imposition of a tax." | ||
| (e) If a majority of the voters voting at the election vote | ||
| to divide the emergency services district, the commissioners court | ||
| by order shall divide the emergency services district. | ||
| (f) The existing emergency services district and new | ||
| emergency services district each shall pay a pro rata share of the | ||
| cost of an election held under this section, based on the assessed | ||
| value of real property in each emergency services district subject | ||
| to ad valorem taxation. | ||
| Sec. 8489.256. DIVISION ORDER. (a) A county order dividing | ||
| an emergency services district under this subchapter must: | ||
| (1) require the existing emergency services district | ||
| to disannex the land of the new emergency services district; | ||
| (2) create the new emergency services district in | ||
| accordance with Chapter 775, Health and Safety Code; | ||
| (3) name the new emergency services district; | ||
| (4) include the metes and bounds description of the | ||
| territories of the new emergency services district and the existing | ||
| emergency services district after disannexation; and | ||
| (5) appoint the board of the new emergency services | ||
| district in the manner described by Section 775.034, Health and | ||
| Safety Code. | ||
| (b) The county judge shall send to the comptroller by | ||
| certified or registered United States Mail a certified copy of a | ||
| county order dividing an emergency services district under this | ||
| subchapter. The certified copy must: | ||
| (1) include the effective date of the division of the | ||
| emergency services district; and | ||
| (2) be accompanied by a map clearly showing the | ||
| boundaries of the new emergency services district. | ||
| Sec. 8489.257. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE SALES AND | ||
| USE TAXES. The authority of the existing emergency services | ||
| district to impose sales and use taxes in the territory of the new | ||
| emergency services district ends on the first day of the first | ||
| calendar quarter after the comptroller receives a copy of the | ||
| division order and map required by Section 8489.256. | ||
| Sec. 8489.258. ADMINISTRATION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES | ||
| DISTRICT AFTER DIVISION. The board of the existing emergency | ||
| services district continues in existence to govern the territory of | ||
| the existing emergency services district after disannexation of the | ||
| land of the new emergency services district. | ||
| Sec. 8489.259. TAXATION FOR OUTSTANDING BONDED DEBT. (a) | ||
| The disannexation of territory from an emergency services district | ||
| under this subchapter does not diminish or impair the rights of | ||
| holders of any outstanding and unpaid bonds of the existing | ||
| emergency services district. | ||
| (b) Property disannexed under this subchapter is not | ||
| released from its pro rata share of any of the existing emergency | ||
| services district's bonded indebtedness on the date of the | ||
| disannexation and the existing emergency services district may | ||
| continue to tax property in the disannexed territory until that | ||
| debt is paid as if the territory had not been disannexed. | ||
| (c) After the date a petition is filed under Section | ||
| 8489.253 to divide an emergency services district, the emergency | ||
| services district may not pledge ad valorem tax revenue or sales tax | ||
| revenue from the territory that is proposed in the petition to be | ||
| disannexed from the emergency services district unless the division | ||
| of the emergency services district fails to be approved at an | ||
| election under this subchapter. | ||
| SECTION 2. 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. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2370 passed the Senate on | ||
| May 9, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, | ||
| one present not voting; and that the Senate concurred in House | ||
| amendment on May 26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, | ||
| one present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2370 passed the House, with | ||
| amendment, on May 24, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 119, | ||
| Nays 19, one present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| Approved: | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
