Bill Sponsors / Authors:
Rep. Cody Harris
R - Palestine
Sen. Paul Bettencourt
R - Houston
Supporting Documents / Links:
House Bill 14 – Platting Third-Party Review
During the 87th interim session, the Texas Municipal League (TML) worked with the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association and the Home Builders Association in order to work through the permitting shot-clock impacts from House Bill 3167 from 2019. While these negotiations were still ongoing among the associations, several bills were filed relating to permitting and the shot clock, two of note are House Bill 14 and House Bill 866 (Senate Bill 494).
This speaker priority bill on platting passed this legislative session.
While not part of the original negotiations that TML was working on, TML was worked with the bill author to minimize the impact to cities.
This bill:
This bill will have a significant impact on the Planning Department’s process for reviewing land development applications. This bill does not clarify whether a third-party review can circumvent a regulatory authority’s decision nor clarify how to keep third-party reviewers accountable whenever their decisions are not in line with the regulatory requirements. Third-party review risks the a slow down of the development process by 14 to 75 days after an action by the City.
This bill takes effect September 1, 2023.