HBA-NLM H.B. 1755 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1755
By: Lewis, Ron
Land & Resource Management
4/8/1999
Committee Report (Amended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, each special law creating a conservation and reclamation
district is required to comply with the general laws relating to consent by
political subdivisions to the creation of conservation and reclamation
districts and to the inclusion of land within the district. In 1997, a
Travis County district court ruled that a conservation and reclamation
district created by the legislature in 1995, pursuant to Section 59
(Conservation and Development of Natural Resources; Conservation and
Reclamation Districts), Article XVI, Texas Constitution, was
unconstitutional because the municipality did not give consent for the
creation of the district in its extraterritorial jurisdiction.  In this
decision the Travis County district court interpreted the term "general
law" to include Section 42.042, Local Government Code, which requires the
consent of a municipality to the creation, even by the legislature, of a
political subdivision. 

There is concern that the decision may result in the invalidation  of all
conservation and reclamation districts created by the legislature without a
municipality's written consent by ordinance or resolution.  It has been
estimated that over sixty such districts have been created.  The purpose of
this bill is to clarify  and confirm that the general law of the state does
not require the consent of any municipality for the legislative adoption of
an act creating a district under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
Constitution. 

H.B. 1755 provides that any governmental act or proceeding related to the
adoption of an act of the legislature creating a special district under
Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, since the adoption of
Subsection (e) of that section, is validated as of the date on which it
occurred. Subsection (e) relates to the creation of a conservation and
reclamation district. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 42.042(j), Local Government Code, to provide
that the consent requirements of this section do not apply to the creation
of a political subdivision by an act of the legislature. 

SECTION 2.  Provides that any governmental act or proceeding related to the
adoption of an act of the legislature creating a special district under
Section 59 (Conservation and Development of Natural Resources; Conservation
and Reclamation Districts), Article XVI, Texas Constitution, since the
adoption of Subsection (e) of  that section is validated as of the date on
which it occurred. Subsection (e) relates to the creation of a conservation
and reclamation and the procedures thereof. 

SECTION 3.  Provides the purpose of this Act.  Provides that this Act does
not nullify or amend any other act of the legislature or any order of the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission relating to any district
created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution,  since the
adoption of Subsection (e) of  that section. 


 SECTION 4.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 5.  Emergency clause.


EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS

Amendment #1

Amends Section 42.042(j), Local Government Code, by including the creation
of a political subdivision by the division of any political subdivision
originally created by  an act of the legislature, among the acts which are
exempt from the consent requirements of this section.  Makes a
nonsubstantive change.