HBA-EDN H.B. 3161 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3161 By: Bonnen Land & Resource Management 4/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In 1999, the legislature required counties and local governments to consider the approval of subdivision plat applications and permits solely upon the regulations and rules in place when the permit or application was filed. In response, some counties have experienced landowners wanting to sell off lots on subdivision plats that were filed before county subdivision regulations existed. Such subdivision plats generally do not meet the minimal infrastructure requirements of contemporary subdivisions and the development of these plats to achieve these requirements could be burdensome to adjacent landowners and the surrounding community. House Bill 3161 provides that the approval of a subdivision plat expires fifty years after the plat is approved by a commissioners court and provides that a landowner wanting to sell or transfer lots on plats older than fifty years will have to resubmit their plat for approval under contemporary standards. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3161 amends the Local Government Code to provide that if no portion of the land subdivided under a plat approved by a commissioners court is sold or transferred before January 1 of the 51st year after the year in which the plat was approved, the approval of the plat expires and the owner must resubmit a plat of the subdivision for approval. A plat resubmitted for approval is subject to the requirements prescribed for subdivisions at the time the plat is resubmitted. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.