Bill Sponsors / Authors:

  Rep. Steve Toth
  R - Spring

 

Supporting Documents / Links:

•   Nicole Smothers Opposing HB 1307
  April 5, 2023

House Bill 1307 – Disannexation of Areas Without Adequate Services

By Representative Steve Toth
Passed House Committee, did not get set on a House Calendar

House Bill 1307 would have allowed a subdivision under the jurisdiction of a single property owners’ association to either be released from the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality or, if located within its boundaries, to disannex itself from the municipality.

If a subdivision is subject to a “legal determination made before January 1, 2023, that the municipality failed to provide . . . adequate services to the area” a majority of registered voters in the subdivision could petition the municipality to release the area from the extraterritorial jurisdiction of, or to disannex from, the municipality. The proposed bill also allows a subdivision that is merely adjacent to another subdivision that is subject to this legal determination to be released from the extraterritorial jurisdiction of, or to be disannexed from, the municipality.

Under the proposed bill, the petition of the majority of registered voters of the subdivision would be filed with the City Secretary who would have ten days to determine whether it is valid. If the petition is valid, the municipality would be required to immediately enter into the minutes an order discontinuing the area as part of the municipality, and the area would immediately cease to be part of the municipality. The disannexed area would then have the choice to remain unincorporated, to incorporate under state law, or to by annexed

This kind of disjointed disannexation would have harmed the City’s long range planning efforts.

The bill passed out of House Land & Resource Management but did not pass the Texas House.