Creighton Bill Limits City And County Rules On Land Development

The text as introduced · 1,634 words

By: Creighton
S.B. No. 3015

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to local government regulation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

ARTICLE 1.

SECTION 1.01. This Act shall be known as the Texas Home

Ownership and Market Efficiency Act or the Texas HOME Act.

SECTION 1.02. The legislature finds that:

(1) the state continues to attract employers and add

historic numbers of jobs;

(2) home ownership is not just the American Dream, it

is the Texan Dream;

(3) the state faces an availability and affordability

crisis;

(4) more Texans than ever cannot afford to own a home

and live in the community of their choice, near their work;

(5) unnecessary and burdensome local government

regulation is a major contributor to this affordability crisis;

(6) burdensome local government regulation:

(A) slows or prevents a market demanded supply of

housing;

(B) retards economic growth;

(C) interferes with the orderly development of

quality public infrastructure;

(D) causes unnecessary and expensive delays on

business; and

(E) ultimately, makes housing less available and

affordable than it should and could be;

(7) legislative session after legislative session,

the Texas Legislature passes laws to reign-in the over-regulation

of local government;

(8) many local governments respond by continuing, and

even advancing, the level of regulation in contravention of state

law; and

(9) the citizens of the state who bear the cost of

over-regulation do not have adequate means to protest

over-regulation and require compliance with state law.

ARTICLE 2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REGULATION

SECTION 2.01. Subchapter F, Chapter 43, Local Government

Code, is amended by adding Section 43.1215 to read as follows:

Sec. 43.1215. EFFECT OF LIMITED PURPOSE ANNEXATION. After

annexation for limited purposes, the area remains in the

extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality.

SECTION 2.02. Section 212.172, Local Government Code, is

amended by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:

(l) Any provision of a contract that provides for the full

purpose annexation of land into a municipality, whether conditional

or unconditional, without following the procedures of Chapter 43 is

void and unenforceable as against public policy.

SECTION 2.03. Subchapter A, Chapter 232, Local Government

Code, is amended by adding Section 232.0014 to read as follows:

Sec. 232.0014. CHAPTER-WIDE LIMITATION OF REGULATION.

Notwithstanding any other law, a commissioners court may not

regulate, either directly or indirectly, under this chapter the

size of a lot, dimensions of a lot, width of a lot frontage,

distance a lot must be set back from a road or property line, or

another component of lot density on a particular tract of land.

SECTION 2.04. Subchapter A, Chapter 232, Local Government

Code, is amended by amending Section 232.0031 and adding Section

232.00315 to read as follows:

Sec. 232.0031. STANDARD FOR ROADS IN SUBDIVISION. (a) A

county may not impose under Section 232.003 a higher standard for

streets or roads in a subdivision than the county imposes on itself

for the construction of streets or roads with a similar type and

amount of traffic.

(b) A county may not adopt or enforce an order, rule, or

other measure regulating the design or construction of a public

road or bridge that serves a developed tract of land if the order,

rule, or other measure conflicts with or is more stringent than a

design or construction standard adopted by the Texas Transportation

Commission.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, the commissioners court

of a county may not adopt or enforce an order, rule, or other

measure that regulates the construction and maintenance of a public

road that is not or will not be maintained by the county.

Sec. 232.00315. ROAD MAINTENANCE. A county may not impose a

requirement, including a provision in a development agreement or

plat notation, that an applicant or third party other than the

county or the applicant agree to maintain a public road as a

condition of plat approval, A provision of an agreement that

violates this section is void and unenforceable as against public

policy.

SECTION 2.05. Subsection 247.001(4), Local Government

Code, as added by Chapter 654 (H.B. 14), Acts of the 88th

Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

(4) "Plan" means a subdivision development plan,

including a subdivision plan, subdivision construction plan, site

plan, land development application, and site development plan [ has

the meaning assigned by Section 212.001 ].

SECTION 2.06. Section 247.002, Local Government Code, as

added by Chapter 654 (H.B. 14), Acts of the 88th Legislature,

Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 247.002. OPTION FOR THIRD-PARTY REVIEW OR INSPECTION

[ REQUIRED ]. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, an applicant for

[ If a regulatory authority does not approve, conditionally approve,

or disapprove a development document by the 15th day after the date

prescribed by a provision of this code for the approval,

conditional approval, or disapproval of the document, ] any required

review of a development [ the ] document may obtain review of the

document from [ be performed by ] a person:

(1) other than:

(A) the applicant; or

(B) a person whose work is the subject of the

application; and

(2) who is:

(A) employed by the regulatory authority to

review development documents;

(B) employed by another political subdivision to

review development documents, if the regulatory authority has

approved the person to review development documents; or

(C) an engineer licensed under Chapter 1001,

Occupations Code.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, an owner of land or an

improvement to the land that requires a development [ If a

regulatory authority does not conduct a required development

inspection by the 15th day after the date prescribed by a provision

of this code for conducting the inspection, the ] inspection may

obtain the inspection from [ be conducted by ] a person:

(1) other than:

(A) the owner of the land or improvement to the

land that is the subject of the inspection; or

(B) a person whose work is the subject of the

inspection; and

(2) who is:

(A) certified to inspect buildings by the

International Code Council;

(B) employed by the regulatory authority as a

building inspector;

(C) employed by another political subdivision as

a building inspector, if the regulatory authority has approved the

person to perform inspections; or

(D) an engineer licensed under Chapter 1001,

Occupations Code.

SECTION 2.07. Chapter 580, Local Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 580.006 to read as follows:

Sec. 580.006. REGULATION OF CERTAIN WATER AND WASTEWATER

FACILITIES. A municipality may not in the extraterritorial

jurisdiction and a county may not in the unincorporated area of the

county regulate the size, type, or method of construction of a water

or wastewater facility that can be constructed to serve a tract of

land if the facility meets the minimum standards established for

water or wastewater facilities by state and federal regulatory

entities.

SECTION 2.08. Section 13.2451, Water Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:

(a-1) A municipality may provide retail water or sewer

service in an area removed from its extraterritorial jurisdiction

under Chapter 42, Local Government Code, without a certificate of

public convenience and necessity.

SECTION 2.09. Subchapter H, Chapter 49, Water Code, is

amended by adding Section 49.2131 to read as follows:

Sec. 49.2131. CONTRACTS WITH OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.

(a) This section applies only to a district with a board of the

majority of which is appointed by the governing body of a

municipality.

(b) A district that sells or contracts for the sale of water

to another political subdivision may not adopt or enforce an order,

rule, or other measure that discriminates between political

subdivisions to which the district sells or contracts for the sale

of water.

SECTION 2.10. Section 54.016, Water Code, is amended by

adding Subsections (k), (l), and (m) to read as follows:

(k) A city may not require a payment from a developer of land

in the district in consideration for its consent.

(l) A city's consent shall not limit the amount of the

district's bonds.

(m) The provisions of an agreement conflicting with this

section are void and unenforceable.

SECTION 2.11. Section 54.0161, Water Code, is amended by

adding subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d) A county may not require the petitioners to enter into

an agreement that imposes rules and regulations for the development

of the land other than the county's rules and regulations adopted

under Chapter 232, Local Government Code. An agreement conflicting

with this subsection is void and unenforceable.

SECTION 2.12. Section 54.021, Water Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:

(f) Notwithstanding any other law, the rights of a

municipality and a county under this subchapter are the exclusive

rights of a municipality or a county relating to the granting or

refusal of the petition by the commission.

ARTICLE 3. REPEALER, TRANSITIONS, AND EFFECTIVE DATE

SECTION 3.01. The following provisions of the Local

Government Code are repealed:

(1) Section 232.103; and

(2) Section 232.104.

SECTION 3.02. Chapter 247, Local Government Code, as

amended by this Act, applies only to a development document or a

request for a development inspection, as those terms are defined by

Section 247.001, Local Government Code, that was not final on the

effective date of this Act. A development document or request for a

development inspection that was final before the effective date of

this Act is governed by the law applicable to the document or

inspection immediately before the effective date of this Act, and

that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3.03. 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, 2025.