CITY-RELATED BILLS FILED

H.B. 4 (Pitts) – Park Funding:  This supplemental appropriations bill would cut parks grants from proceeds of the sporting good sales during the current 2010-2011 biennium by $300,000. 

H.B. 256 (HIlderbran) – Cable and Video Service: would provide that:  (1) beginning September 1, 2011, a cable service provider or video service provider that was not allowed to or did not terminate a municipal franchise under the current state franchise law (S.B. 5 (2005)) may elect to terminate that franchise and seek a state-issued certificate of franchise authority for the area served under the municipal franchise by providing written notice to the Public Utility Commission and the affected city before January 1, 2012; (2) a cable service provider that elects to terminate an existing municipal franchise is responsible for remitting to the affected city, before the 91st day after the date the municipal franchise is terminated, any accrued but unpaid franchise fees due under the terminated franchise; (3) a city may review the business records of a cable service provider or video service provider to the extent necessary to ensure compensation in accordance with a state-issued franchise, provided that the city may only review records that relate to the 48-month period preceding the date of the last franchise fee payment; (4) if a city uses the one-percent public, education, and governmental (PEG) channel fee for a purpose that is not authorized by federal law, the fees are chargeable as a credit against the state-issued franchise fee payments; (5) a city that receives PEG fees: (a) shall maintain revenue from the fees in a separate account established for that purpose; (b) may not commingle revenue from the fees with any other money; (c) shall maintain a record of each deposit to and disbursement from the separate account, including a record of the payee and purpose of each disbursement; and (d)  not later than January 31 of each year, shall provide to each certificate holder that pays a fee to the city a detailed accounting of the deposits to and disbursements from the separate account made in the preceding calendar year; (6) once a local franchise is terminated under the bill, cable services to community public buildings, such as municipal buildings and public schools, no longer must be provided; (7) on the expiration or termination of a local franchise agreement, a provider that provides such services may deduct from the franchise fee to be paid to the city an amount equal to the actual incremental cost of the services in (6) if the city requires the services after that date; and (8) where technically feasible, the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority that is not an incumbent cable service provider and an incumbent cable service provider, including an incumbent cable service provider that holds a state-issued certificate of franchise authority issued after terminating pursuant to the bill, shall use reasonable efforts to interconnect their cable or video systems for the purpose of providing PEG programming.  (S.B. 1089 is substantially similar to this bill.)

H.B. 257 (Hilderbran) – Utility Deposits:  would reduce the amount of time that must pass before an unclaimed utility deposit or other unclaimed personal property is presumed abandoned.  (This bill is identical to H.B. 1764 by Harper-Brown.)

H.B. 258 (N. Gonzalez) – State Traffic Fine: would increase the amount of the “state traffic fine” on convictions in municipal court from $30 to $45. (This bill is identical to H.B. 1233 by N. Gonzalez.)(Note:  See lead article in this edition for more information on this bill.)

H.B. 259 (Eiland) – Assessment on Video Providers: would: (1) impose on each video provider (e.g., cable television services and similar services, as well as satellite service) a state “assessment” of 6-1/4 percent of gross revenues derived from the provision of subscription video services in this state (but excluding Internet service); (2) define “gross revenues;” (3) provide that each video provider is entitled to a credit against the assessment imposed under this bill for state or local franchise fees paid to cities; (4) provide that the total credit claimed on an assessment report may not exceed the amount of the assessment due for the report; (5) provide that the assessment imposed by the bill is due and payable to the comptroller on or before the last day of the first month following the end of each calendar quarter; (6) require a provider on whom the assessment is imposed by the bill to maintain the necessary records (which shall be open to the comptroller at all times), and any other information required by the comptroller, to determine the amount of the assessment that the provider is required to remit and any credit that the provider is entitled to claim, the number of subscription video service subscribers in each incorporated area and in the unincorporated area of each county; (7) provide various penalties against a provider that violates the provisions of the bill; (8) require that three-fourths of the revenue collected from the assessment imposed by the bill shall be deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund and one-fourth of the revenue shall be deposited to the credit of the subscription video assessment clearance fund created under the bill; (9) provide that the subscription video assessment clearance fund is a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund; (10) provide that, effective on January 1, 2012, not later than the last day of the second month following a calendar quarter, the comptroller shall calculate the pro rata share of total subscription video service subscribers for each city and the unincorporated area of each county according to the most recent subscription report filed by each provider; and (11) require the comptroller to distribute the balance of the amount in the subscription video assessment clearance fund, less up to a five percent administrative fee in certain circumstances, by issuing a warrant drawn on the fund to each city with subscription video service subscribers in an amount equal to the city's pro rata share of the amount in the fund as of the date the warrant is issued and  each county with subscription video service subscribers outside of an incorporated area in an amount equal to the county’s pro rata share of the amount in the fund as of the date the warrant is issued.  (Note:  this bill is apparently meant to be part of a “paired package” with S.B. 1087, below)

H.B. 667 (S. Miller) – Groundwater: would: (1) recognize a landowner’s or landowner’s lessee’s ownership of groundwater in place and right to produce groundwater; and (2) permit a landowner’s or landowner’s lessee’s groundwater rights to be limited only by a rule promulgated by a groundwater conservation district if the rule is consistent with Sections 3, 17, and 19, Article I, of the Texas Constitution and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

H.B. 1820 (R. Anderson) – Texas Municipal Retirement System: would change the definition of “employee” for purposes of participation in the Texas Municipal Retirement System to require that an employee work 1,500 hours per year instead of 1,000 hours a year. (Note:  This summary has been revised from a previous edition.)

H.B. 2040 (Hamilton) – Emergency Management:  would: (1)  make crisis incident stress management services provided to emergency response team members confidential; and (2) limit liability for any loss related to an emergency response team member’s provision of critical incident stress management services.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1065 by Williams.)

H.B. 2042 (Menendez) – Defense Base Development Authorities:  would provide that a defense base development authority may charge for the use, lease, or sale of an open space or a facility and various financial and professional services, and would exempt certain commercial aircraft that are under construction inside the authority from ad valorem taxation in certain instances.

H.B. 2043 (Menendez) – Property Tax:  would provide that a commercial aircraft or tangible personal property that the owner intends to incorporate into, or attach to, a commercial aircraft that is located inside a defense base development authority is not to be considered tangible personal property that is subject to taxation.

H.B. 2045 (Berman) – Sales Tax:  would provide that a taxpayer may deduct and withhold three-fourths of one percent of the amount of taxes due from the taxpayer on a timely return as reimbursement for the cost of collecting sales taxes, so long as the total amount deducted does not exceed certain specified limits per month, quarter, and year.  

H.B. 2048 (Lyne) – Hotel Occupancy Taxes:  would: (1) allow a city to directly perform an audit, or to contract with another person to perform an audit, to determine any delinquency in hotel occupancy tax payments to the city; (2) require the city to notify the comptroller if the results of an audit reveal a failure of a hotel to collect or pay hotel taxes; (3) require the comptroller to review the information submitted by a city to determine whether to proceed with collection and enforcement efforts, and distribute 20 percent of any additional amount collected as a result of the audit to the city to defray the cost of the audit; and (4) provide that a city may not receive a percentage of the amount collected if the information submitted to the comptroller was obtained as a result of an audit performed on a contingent fee basis.

H.B. 2049 (Lavender) – Property Tax:  would make land used for raising or keeping bees for pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible products eligible for appraisal as open-space land for property tax purposes.

H.B. 2050 (Pena) – Elections:  would allow a poll watcher to use a mechanical or electronic means of recording images or sound while serving as a watcher only if: (1) the device is used to report an irregularity or violation of law relating to the election; or (2) the device is used to contact the authority holding the election, the secretary of state, the attorney general, or a law enforcement officer. 

H.B. 2051 (Pena) – Elections:  would add additional language to the oath administered by an election officer to a person selected to provide assistance to a voter.

H.B. 2053 (Pena) – Elections:  would provide that a person may not serve as a poll watcher if the person has been convicted of a felony. 

H.B. 2055 (Pena) – Elections:  would require the secretary of state to establish rules to allow counties to use countywide polling places as an alternative election system. 

H.B. 2056 (Pena) – Elections:  would require the early voting clerk of an authority holding an election that does not use as an early voting polling place a location used in the preceding election to notify a person who represents that location of the change as soon as practicable after the authority determines the location of each early voting polling place.  

H.B. 2057 (Pena) – Elections:  would create the offense of criminal conspiracy to interfere with an election for any offense relating to the registration of voters, voting procedures, application for a ballot, or voting by mail. 

H.B. 2058 (Pena) – Elections:  would provide that a person assisting an individual in the completion of an early voting ballot application commits an offense if the person does not sign and print his or her name on the application, regardless of whether the person is in the presence of the applicant.  

H.B. 2065 (Allen) – Law Enforcement:  would: (1) authorize a city to create a pretrial victim-offender mediation program for certain first-time offenders; (2) outline the requirements for the program; (3) provide that victim-offender mediation does not have to be performed by a trained mediator; (4) outline the requirements for a mediation agreement between the parties in a victim-offender mediation; (5) require a city that establishes a mediation program to notify the attorney general's office; (6) authorize a city to charge a fee for participation in the mediation program, to be based on the defendant’s ability to pay, used only for program purposes, and in an amount not to exceed $500; (7) create a $15 on all property offenses to be sent to the comptroller quarterly for deposit in a special fund; (8) authorize a city with a pretrial victim-offender mediation program to retain 40 percent of the $15 fee collected for maintenance of the program; and (9) authorize any other city to keep ten percent of the fee, so long as the fee is remitted properly.

H.B. 2075 (Martinez) – Disease Presumption:  would provide that: (1) a firefighter or emergency medical technician (EMT) that has a heart attack or stroke while on duty is presumed to have suffered the illness or death during the course and scope of employment, which means he or she would be covered by workers' compensation for that condition; (2) a firefighter or EMT who contracts acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), human immunodeficiency vicrus (HIV), hepatitis B, or hepatitis C is presumed to have contracted the disease during the course and scope of employment, which means he or she would be covered by workers' compensation for that condition, if – while on duty: (a)  the firefighter  or EMT was exposed to a person with these diseases who received treatment from the firefighter or EMT; or (b) the firefighter or EMT  regularly responded to scenes or calls  involving exposure to blood or other bodily fluids; and (3) a firefighter or EMT who contracts methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) resulting in illness or death is presumed to have suffered the illness or death during the course and scope of employment, which means he or she would be covered by workers' compensation for that condition – if, while on duty, the firefighter or EMT was exposed to a person with MRSA who received treatment from the firefighter or EMT. 

H.B. 2076 (Rodriguez) – Debt Collection:  would: (1) authorize a city to contract with a public or private vendor for the collection of a debt related to a civil case, including an unpaid fine, fee, or court cost (but not a commercial bail bond), if the debt is more than 60 days overdue; and (2) allow a city with a vendor described in (1), above, to authorize a collection fee of not more than 30 percent of the amount of the debt collected to be used to compensate the vendor.

H.B. 2078 (Villarreal) – Property Tax:  would: (1) prohibit appraisal districts and appraisal review boards from conducting their own training for board members; (2) prohibit appraisal districts and appraisal review boards from instructing board members to disregard matters taught by the comptroller or to conduct themselves differently from the manner in which they have been instructed by the comptroller; (3) allow the chief appraiser or employee of an appraisal district or appraisal review board to contact a board member only to discuss administrative, clerical, or logistical matters related to the scheduling and operation of hearings, the processing of documents, the issuance of orders, notices, and subpoenas, and the operation of the appraisal review board; (4) require the appraisal district to provide the appraisal review board with independent counsel of the appraisal review board’s own choosing; and (5) prohibit attorneys from representing an appraisal review board if they or any member of their law firm has represented a property owner, an appraisal district, or a governmental entity on an appraisal issue within the prior twelve months.

H.B. 2084 (Kolkhorst) – Food Regulation:  would: (1) prohibit a local health department from regulating a cottage food production operation; (2) allow a local health department to investigate a cottage food production operation if the local health department receives a complaint regarding the operation; and (3) require the Department of Agriculture to develop a program to regulate farmers markets to allow individuals receiving food assistance from the state to use that assistance at farmers market.  

H.B. 2093 (Thompson) – Construction Insurance:  would:  (1) authorize the use of a “consolidated insurance program” under which a principal provides insurance on a construction project for several contractors; and (2) provide specific procedures that must be followed to use such a program.

H.B. 2100 (Lewis) – Property Tax:  would provide that the property of a local government corporation that is located within the boundaries of a local government that the local government corporation was created to aid and act on behalf of, and a transaction to acquire that property, are exempt from taxation in the same manner as a housing finance corporation.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1120 by Seliger.)

H.B. 2101 (Hernandez Luna) – Municipal Court Records:  would require a court, upon the motion of any involved party in a case, to seal identifying financial information or personal identifying information which is included in the court’s record unless the court finds good reason to not do so.

H.B. 2102 (Hernandez Luz) – Mandatory Health Benefit:   would require a health benefit provider, including a benefits pool, to cover the cost of mammography, low dose mammography, and physician-recommended supplemental breast cancer screening. 

H.B. 2103 (Jackson) – Public Funds Collateral Act:  would establish a letter of credit issued by a federal home loan bank as “eligible security” for collateral to secure public funds. 

H.B. 2105 (Y. Davis) – Procurement:  would provide that: (1) a city may not award a contract to a vendor, bidder, contractor, or subcontractor that will perform the work related to the contract with workers located outside the United States, unless the city first obtains a waiver from the state auditor; and (2) a public agency, including a city, may not award or provide a public subsidy to an applicant that will perform any work related to the subsidy with workers located outside the United States, unless the public agency first obtains a waiver from the state auditor.

H.B. 2106 (Y. Davis) – Eminent Domain:  would provide that: (1) the term “blighted area” means an area that presents four or more of the following conditions for one year after a property owner receives notice of the condition: (a) the area contains uninhabitable, unsafe, or abandoned structures; (b) the area has inadequate provisions for sanitation; (c) there exists at the area an imminent harm to life or other property caused by fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, storm, or other natural catastrophe declared to be a disaster; (d) the area has been identified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund site or as environmentally contaminated to an extent that the property requires remedial investigation or a feasibility study; (e) the area has been the location of substantiated and repeated illegal activity of which the property owner knew or should have known; (f) the maintenance of the property is below county or municipal standards; (g) the property is abandoned and contains a structure that is not fit for its intended use because the utilities, sewerage, plumbing, or heating or a similar service or facility of the structure has been disconnected, destroyed, removed, or rendered ineffective; or (h) the property presents an economic liability to the immediate area because of deteriorating structures or hazardous conditions; (2) the current statutory provisions permitting condemnation for urban renewal apply only to “blighted” areas (as opposed to “slum” areas); (3) a municipal governing body must determine that each unit of property (as opposed to an “area,” as provided in current law) be designated as blighted;(4) notwithstanding any other law, an area may not be considered a blighted area on the basis of a condition described in number (1) above unless the city has given notice in writing to the property owner regarding the imminent harm to life or other property caused by the condition of the property, and the property owner fails to take reasonable measures to remedy the harm caused by the property;(5) an area may not be considered blighted solely for aesthetic reasons;(6) the special commissioners in a condemnation proceeding shall admit evidence on the financial injury to the property owner including—if the condemnation makes relocation of a homestead or farm necessary—the financial damages associated with the cost of relocating from the condemned property to another property that allows the property owner to: (a) have a standard of living comparable to the property owner's standard of living immediately before the condemnation; or (b) operate a comparable farm, if the condemned property is a farm; (7) a city shall provide a relocation advisory service for an individual, a family, a business concern, a farming or ranching operation, or a nonprofit organization that is compatible with the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act; and (8) a city shall, as a cost of acquiring real property, pay moving expenses and rental supplements, make relocation payments, provide financial assistance to acquire replacement housing, and compensate for expenses incidental to the transfer of the property if an individual, a family, the personal property of a business, a farming or ranching operation, or a nonprofit organization is displaced in connection with the acquisition.

H.B. 2107 (Anchia) – Sexually Oriented Businesses:  would require a sexually oriented business to post an outdoor sign if the business applies for a license or permit for a location that is not currently licensed or permitted.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1030 by Carona). 

H.B. 2111 (Woolley) – Gambling:  would: (1) provide for the operation of video lottery games by licensed horse and greyhound racetrack operators; (2) prohibit a political subdivision from imposing: (a) a tax, fee, or other assessment on consideration paid to play a video lottery game; and (b) a tax or fee for attendance or admission to a video lottery establishment or a racetrack at which a video lottery establishment is located unless specifically authorized by statute; (3) require a local law enforcement agency, at the Racing Commission’s request and in accordance with an interagency agreement, to conduct criminal background checks on prospective deputies or investigators of the department of security; (4) require video lottery terminal provider applicants to comply with all local ordinances and rules; and (5) require an applicant for a video lottery terminal establishment license to ensure compliance with all applicable building codes. (Companion bill is S.B. 1118 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 2112 (Price) – Priority Groundwater Management Districts:  would allow the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt rules regarding the inclusion of all or part of the land within certain existing priority groundwater management areas in a new or existing special district.  (This bill is identical to S.B. 313 by Seliger.)

H.B. 2114 (Coleman) – Recycling: would: (1) create a deposit system for recyclable beverage containers in the state; (2) create a grant program to assist curbside recycling programs and municipal recycling facilities in handling increased recycling rates; (3) require that cans and bottles be recycled through licensed redemption centers or curbside recycling programs in order to receive a deposit refund; (4) authorize a city to open a redemption center; (5) require a redemption center to be licensed by the comptroller, which may establish rules for required hours of operation and remove its approval at any time; and (6) set up a system by which redemption centers and curbside recycling programs may be reimbursed for collection of eligible recyclables. (Companion bill is S.B. 1119 by Ellis).

H.B. 2116 (Coleman) – Restraint of Dogs:  would strengthen regulations regarding keeping dogs in enclosures, including prohibiting leaving a dog outside and unattended in a small enclosure.

H.B. 2128 (Geren) – Certificates of Convenience and Necessity:  would authorize a city to designate a “public utility” as defined in Chapter 13 of the Texas Water Code as the retail public utility that is authorized to serve in a newly annexed or incorporated area in a single certification process before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

H.B. 2130 (Fletcher) – Coin-Operated Machines:  would:  (1) require the owners of certain coin-operated machines to display the owner’s name, address, and phone on each machine that is exhibited or displayed; (2) increase the occupation tax that cities can imposes on certain coin-operated machines; (3) increase the fee that a city can charge for releasing a coin-operated machine that has been sealed for failure to pay an occupation tax; and (4) repeal Occupations Code Section 2153.403, which provides for the prorated tax on a coin-operated machine.

H.B. 2134 (Solomons) – Public Utility Commission:  this is the Public Utility Commission sunset bill.  The bill would extend the commission for 12 years, and make various administrative changes to the commission.  (In its current form, the bill would not directly affect cities.)

H.B. 2139 (Guillen) – Libraries:  would require the Library and Archives Commission to establish an “Adopt a Library” program to encourage private investment in and donations to public libraries throughout the state.

H.B. 2141 (Guillen) – Law Enforcement:  would commission game wardens as the sole officers responsible for enforcing recreational water safety.

H.B. 2144 (Garza) – Uniform Election Dates:  would: (1) except the initial election of the members of the governing body of a newly incorporated city from the uniform election date requirement; (2) provide that a newly incorporated city may, not later than the second anniversary of the date of incorporation, change the date on which it holds its general election for officers to another authorized uniform election date; and (3) require a newly incorporated city to select a uniform election date for the general election of its governing body not later than the first anniversary of the date of its incorporation.

H.B. 2153 (Eiland) – Automobile Theft Prevention Fee:  would: (1) raise the Automobile and Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority fee from $1 to $2; and (2)  require that fifty percent of the fee collected for the authority be used for the purposes of automobile burglary and theft prevention. 

H.B. 2156 (T. King) – Driving Without Insurance: would repeal the state annual surcharges on convictions of driving with an invalid license and driving without insurance. 

H.B. 2157 (Coleman) – Cell Phone Ban:  would: (1) prohibit the use of a wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle, including use to read, write, or send a text-based communication; and (2) repeal current requirements to post signs at school crossing zones regarding the prohibited use of wireless communication devices.

H.B. 2161 (C. Howard) – Municipal Utility Districts:  would provide that a city may provide in its written consent for the inclusion of land in a municipal utility district that a contract (e.g., an “allocation agreement”) between the district and the city be entered into prior to the first issue of bonds, notes, warrants, or other obligations of the district. The bill would also provide that the allocation agreement shall contain, among other things, an allocation of the taxes or revenues of the district or the city which will assure that, if the district is located outside the corporate limits of the city on the date its creation is confirmed by the voters, following the date of the inclusion of all the district’s territory within the corporate limits of the city, the total annual ad valorem taxes collected by the city and the district from taxable property within the district does not exceed an amount greater than the city's ad valorem tax upon such property.

H.B. 2169 (Aycock) – Property Tax:  would: (1) allow a city council to rescind a property tax discount previously adopted by the city council; and (2) provide that the rescission takes effect beginning in the year in which the discount was rescinded, unless the discount was rescinded after September 1, in which case the rescission takes place the following year.

H.B. 2174 (Hartnett) – Court Fees:  would:  (1) create a $5 fee for judicial access and improvement to be collected on certain offenses and remitted to the comptroller for deposit in a judicial access and improvement account; and (2) authorize a city to keep five percent of the fee.

H.B. 2180 (Isaac) – Disorderly Conduct:  would provide, in relation to the offense of disorderly conduct, that a noise is presumed unreasonable if the noise exceeds a decibel level of 60.

H.B. 2185 (Harper-Brown) – Municipal Court:  would: (1) allow deferred disposition for certain motor vehicle offenses for individuals with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs); (2) extend the time period since the last driver safety course when assigning a driving safety course from twelve months to forty-eight months for CDL holders; (3) authorize a CDL holder to take a driver safety course under a deferred disposition agreement, in certain circumstances and with certain conditions.

H.B. 2191 (Elkins) – Elections:  would require an application for a ballot to be voted by mail to contain a box for the applicant to choose a language in which the applicant would prefer the ballot to be printed, as well as a notice that if the applicant fails to choose the ballot will be delivered in English.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1199 by Patrick.)

H.B. 2194 (L. Taylor) – Elections:  among other things, would: (1)  prohibit a government official who oversees, manages, or administers the elections process from being a candidate for public office or an office of a political party, hold a public office, or hold an office or position in a political party; (2) allow a presiding judge or alternate presiding judge to observe assistance being provided to a voter under certain circumstances; (3) require unofficial election results to be released as soon as they are available after polls close, except that the presiding judge of the central counting station may withhold the release of unofficial election results until the last voter has voted; and (4) provide that the nepotism laws do not apply to an appointment of an election clerk who is not related in the first degree by consanguinity or affinity to an elected official of the authority that appoints the election judges for that election.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1128 by Jackson.)

H.B. 2196 (Rodriguez) – Theft of Service:  would provide, in regard to the offense of theft of service, that if compensation is or was to be paid on a periodic basis, the intent to avoid payment for a service may be formed at any time during or before a pay period, and the partial payment of wages alone is not sufficient evidence to negate the actor’s intent to avoid full payment for a service. (Companion bill is S.B. 1024 by Rodriguez.)

H.B. 2203 (Otto) – Property Tax:  would extend a pilot program authorizing a property owner to appeal an appraisal review board determination to the State Office of Administrative Hearings to Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Nueces Counties. 

H.B. 2204 (Oliveira) – Motor Vehicle Registration:  would: (1) authorize a city to enter into a contract with the county assessor-collector to provide information so that the assessor-collector can make a determination of whether to refuse to register a motor vehicle because of an outstanding warrant for failure to pay a fine for violation of a traffic law; and (2) authorize a city that has a contract described in (1), above, to impose an additional $20 fee on a person who has an outstanding warrant to use to reimburse the Department of Motor Vehicles or the county assessor-collector for its expenses for providing services under the contract. 

H.B. 2208 (Oliviera) – Property Tax:  would allow a chief appraiser or collector to waive penalties for the failure to file certain documents only if: (1) the taxpayer seeking the waiver files a written application for the waiver with the chief appraiser or collector, as applicable, not later than the 30th day after the date the declaration or statement was required to be filed; and (2) the taxpayer’s failure to file or timely file was a result of a natural disaster that rendered it impossible to comply with the filing requirement, or an event beyond the control of the taxpayer that destroyed the property or records.  

H.B. 2209 (Farias) – Sales Tax:  would impose a tax on the sale to a retailer of certain sweetened beverages and ingredients used to make certain sweetened beverages, and use the revenue generated by the tax for the promotion of children’s health programs. 

H.B. 2213 (Farias) – Sales Tax:  would impose a tax on the sale to a retailer of certain sweetened beverages and ingredients used to make certain sweetened beverages, and use 40% of the revenue generated by the tax for the promotion of children’s health programs, with the remainder to the credit of the general revenue fund. 

H.B. 2214 (Farias) – Sales Tax:  would impose a tax on the sale to a retailer of certain sweetened beverages and ingredients used to make certain sweetened beverages, and allocate 80 percent of the revenue generated by the tax to the Texas Education Agency, with the remaining 20 percent going to the Department of State Health Services. 

H.B. 2215 (Paxton) – Property Tax:  would require a city that adopts a budget that will require raising more revenue from property taxes than in the previous year to create a cover page that: (1) contains a statement in 18-point or larger font using specific language about the property tax increase; (2) contains the record vote of each member of the governing body regarding the adoption of the budget, the ratification of the property tax increase, and the setting of the property tax rate; and (3) the property tax rates for the preceding and current fiscal years.  The bill would also require a city that maintains a Web site to post the record votes of each member of the governing body as stated in (2), above, on the Web site for at least one year from the adoption of the budget. 

H.B. 2218 (Oliveira) – Property Tax:  would change the amount of interest that a city making a refund of property taxes following a judicial proceeding must pay from eight percent to an annual rate of interest paid by the bank on funds deposited in the account maintained by the tax collector for the taxing unit from which refunds are disbursed as of the date on which the final determination of the appeal is made, so long as that rate does not exceed eight percent. 

H.B. 2220 (Y. Davis) – Property Tax:  would provide that: (1) a delinquency date applies only to the amount of taxes required to be paid on the portion of taxable value of the property that is the subject of a motion to change the appraisal role to correct an error that is not in dispute before the delinquency date; and (2) after filing an oath of inability to pay the taxes at issue, a property owner may be excused from the requirement of prepayment of tax as a prerequisite to the determination of a motion if the appraisal review board finds that such prepayment would constitute an unreasonable restrain on the property owner’s right of access to the board.  

H.B. 2221 (Y. Davis) – Property Tax:  would allow an administrative law judge to award reasonable attorney’s fees in an appeal relating to the appraised or market value of property in an amount that does not exceed the greater of $15,000 or twenty percent of the total amount by which the property owner’s tax liability is reduced as a result of the appeal.

H.B. 2225 (Y. Davis) – Eminent Domain:   would provide that, if a taking makes relocation of a homestead or farm necessary, the special commissioners in a condemnation proceeding shall admit evidence on the cost of relocation from the condemned property to another property that allows the property owner to: (1) have a standard of living comparable to the property owner's standard of living immediately before the taking, if the property taken is a homestead that is habitable; or  (2) operate a comparable farm, if the property taken is a farm.

H.B. 2226 (Truitt) – Public Funds Investment:  among other things, would: (1) require a city’s investment policy to include procedures to monitor rating changes in investments acquired with public funds and the liquidation of such investments; (2) require a city’s investment officer to attend a training session not less than once each state fiscal biennium; (3) provide that an obligation that is fully guaranteed or insured by the FDIC or by the explicit full faith and credit of the United States is an authorized investment; (4) provide that certain investment in certificates of deposit using a broker are authorized investments; (5) authorize an investment pool to invest its funds in money market mutual funds to the extent permitted by and consistent with state law and the investment policies and objectives adopted by the pool.

H.B. 2227 (Coleman) – Municipal Court:  would require a municipal judge to make an affirmative finding of fact to be entered into the judgment of the case if an individual is found to have committed the offense of criminal mischief against a specific piece of property because of the defendant's bias or prejudice against a group identified by gender identity or expression.

H.B. 2228 (Coleman) – Mandatory Health Benefit:  would require health benefit provider, including a pool to provide coverage for self-inflicted injuries to a minor who has a serious mental illness or in an attempt to commit suicide.

H.B. 2242 (Munoz) – Property Tax:  would include cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or epilepsy in the definition of “disabled” for purposes of eligibility for a local property tax exemption or local property tax freeze on the residence homestead of a disabled person.

H.B. 2257 (Phillips) – Emergency Notification:  would: (1) allow a public service provider, including a city, to use an emergency notification system to notify the provider’s customers, governmental entities and other affected persons of: (a) a disaster or emergency; and (b) actions to take during a disaster or emergency; (2) require an emergency notification system to use a dynamic information database for simultaneous transmission of the information; and (3) give a provider the right to receive confidential 9-1-1 contact information to use the emergency notification system.

H.B. 2260 (Zedler) – Immigration:  would: (1) require a governmental entity, including a city, to verify the lawful presence of an individual before providing any public benefit including a license, food assistance, educational assistance, unemployment benefit, or other similar benefit if the benefit requires lawful presence under state or federal law or local ordinance or rule; (2) allow a city to offer certain benefits without asking immigration status including: (a) temporary disaster or emergency benefits; (b) emergency health care services; (c) immunizations; and (d) some short term shelter services; (3) allow a city to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, an equivalent program, or adopt its own rules and procedures for determining immigrations status; (4) require a city to make a report regarding the accuracy of its verification program; and (5) require a city to report a false and willful representation of citizenship to the United States attorney in its district. 

H.B. 2261 (Zedler) – Public Retirement Systems:  would prohibit the inclusion of overtime in the amount of a member's compensation under a public retirement system including the Texas Municipal Retirement System and other city retirement systems.

H.B. 2262 (Dutton) – Building Permits:  would provide that a building permit fee is abolished on the 10th anniversary after the date the fee is adopted or most recently reauthorized unless the governing body of the city that adopted or reauthorized the fee: (1) holds a public hearing on the reauthorization of the fee; and (2) reauthorizes the fee by vote of the governing body.

H.B. 2268 (Hancock) – MTBEs: would create an affirmative defense for a person who is subject to an action brought for nuisance or trespass stemming from certain environmental offenses if the person’s actions that resulted in the alleged nuisance or trespass were authorized by a rule, permit, order, license, certificate, registration, approval, or other form of authorization issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) or the federal government or a federal agency, and: (1) the person was in general compliance with that rule, permit, order, license, certificate, registration, approval, or other form of authorization while the alleged nuisance or trespass was occurring; or (2) the person received enforcement discretion from the TCEQ or federal government or an agency of the federal government for the actions that resulted in the alleged nuisance or trespass.  (This bill is identical to S.B. 875 by Fraser.)

H.B. 2274 (Eiland) – Elections:  would require a city to pay for the expenses of an election contest for a person elected to the city council, including reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and similar related expenses.

H.B. 2279 (Eiland) – Prop 2:  would add representatives of school districts that are required to take action under the state’s Equalized Wealth Level law to the permanent advisory committee to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding the implementation of the ad valorem tax exemption for pollution control property.

H.B. 2280 (Eiland) – Prop 2:  would add at least one representative of a school district or junior college district in which property is located that is subject to an ad valorem tax exemption for pollution control to the permanent advisory committee to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding the implementation of the ad valorem tax exemption for pollution control property.

H.B. 2284 (Hardcastle) – Engineering:  would provide that:  (1) for purpose of the Engineering Practices Act, the practice of engineering includes the design, conceptual design, or conceptual design coordination of engineering works or systems, including buildings or related structures; and (2) for purposes of the Architect’s Practices Act, and engineer may perform the planning, designing, or supervising work on the features of buildings or related structures.

H.B. 2289 (Crownover) – Gas Pipelines/Rights-of-Way:  would provide that a gas corporation has the right to lay and maintain   lines over, along, under, and across a public road, a canal or stream, or a municipal street or alley and over, under, and across a railroad, a railroad right-of-way, an interurban railroad, or a street railroad only if certain conditions are met.

H.B. 2290 (Paxton) – Debt:  would: (1) require the comptroller, in consultation with the Bond Review Board, to develop and maintain a computerized database on the comptroller’s Web site that lists the bond and other debt obligations issued by each city and that is searchable by zip code; and (2) require cities to provide information necessary for the database to the comptroller at times required by the comptroller. 

H.B. 2291 (Callegari) – Regulation of Occupations:  would prohibit a governmental entity, including a city, from regulating an individual's right to engage in an occupation if the regulation: (1) substantially burdens the right to engage in the occupation; and (2) the burden is not necessary to protect against a present and recognizable harm.

H.B. 2294 (Hunter) – Sovereign Immunity: would state that the declaratory judgment act does not waive sovereign immunity.

H.B. 2300 (Coleman) – Mandatory Health Benefit:  would: (1) expand the definition of mental illness for insurance purposes; (2) require a health benefit plan to cover mental illness to the same extent, for the same amount of inpatient and outpatient treatment, and under the same deductibles and limits as coverage for physical injuries; and (3) prohibit exclusion for a mental disorder

H.B. 2308 (Cook) – Texas Forest Service:  would: (1) allow the Texas Forest Service (TFS) to provide incident management training to local fire personnel to develop the all-hazard response capability of the state; (2) allow the director of the TFS to establish guidelines for volunteer fire departments to assist TFS with wildfires when local firefighting resources are exhausted; (3) allow TFS to compensate volunteer firefighters if resources are available; (4) require TFS to enact a wildfire protection plan; (5) require TFS to review the frequency, size, and severity of past wildfires or future wildfires when determining funding to volunteer fire departments; and (6) allow TFS to designate a portion of the volunteer fire department assistance fund to be used by local volunteer fire departments to be federal matching grant requirements. (Companion bill is S.B. 646 by Nichols.)

H.B. 2312 (Coleman) – Mandatory Health Benefit:  would require a local health department to provide testing and counseling for sickle cell disease for free to anyone who requests it.

H.B. 2317 (Miller) – County Development Authority:  would expand county authority to regulate development in certain counties located west of Austin and San Antonio, commonly known as the Texas Hill Country.

H.B. 2318 (Kolkhorst) – Expunction:  would expand the situations in which an individual is entitled to have all records and files relating to an arrest expunged.

H.B. 2321 (C. Howard) – Property Tax:  would provide that the “market value” of land for property tax appraisal purposes is frozen at the 2009 appraised value until the land is sold or new construction takes place.

H.B. 2327 (McClendon) – Bus Only Lanes:  would create a motor-bus-only lane pilot program for state highways with shoulders of sufficient width in Bexar, Denton, El Paso, and Travis counties. (Companion bill is S.B. 1102 by Wentworth).

H.B. 2331 (P. King) – Appraisals:  would provide that an appraisal review board shall seriously consider evidence provided by a property owner of the price paid by the owner for a residence homestead in a protest of the determination of the appraised value of the homestead.

H.B. 2338 (Paxton) – Property Tax:  would require the chief appraiser of an appraisal district or the county assessor-collector to publish on an Internet Web site certain specified tax rate information for each taxing unit that imposes property in the county. 

H.B. 2347 (Bonnen) – Property Tax:  would allow a property owner to apply for an extension of a residence homestead exemption for up to three tax years following the tax year in which the owner ceases to occupy a residence if the former residence homestead: (1) is not occupied or leased to any person; (2) is being actively offered for sale; and (3) is not used for any business or commercial purpose.

H.B. 2355 (Madden) – Sales Tax:  would provide that an employer who employs a person who obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate while employed by that employer is entitled to a credit or refund of sales taxes up to a certain amount. 

H.B. 2357 (Pickett) – Motor Vehicles:  would, among many other things, provide that a vehicle used by law enforcement under an alias for covert criminal investigations is exempt from the payment of a registration fee.

H.B. 2358 (Landtroop) – Water Rights:  would repeal the statute that makes any proposed transfer of all or a portion of a water right junior in priority to water rights granted before the time application for transfer is accepted for filing.

H.B. 2359 (Hopson) – Political Contributions:  would change the regulation of political contributions by: (1) repealing provisions disallowing direct campaign expenditures; (2) repealing the provision limiting when a corporation or labor organization can make direct campaign expenditures for an election measure; and (3) creating new provisions relating to individual’s making campaign contributions that exempt the person from filing a report if the person already has to file a report under another provision in law. 

H.B. 2361 (Truitt) – Automated Traffic Enforcement: would, among other things, modify the current prohibition against using automated speed camera traffic enforcement to provide that a city may use a device that records the speed of a motor vehicle and obtains photographs or other recorded images or rely on evidence obtained from using the device in the prosecution of a criminal offense if: (1) the device is used by a peace officer who personally observes the violation and issues a citation to the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation or is unable to issue the citation because of events beyond the control of the peace officer; or (2)  the device is used by a peace officer working in a team of peace officers engaged in a localized collective effort to enforce compliance with posted speed limits, the peace officer personally observes the violation, and another peace officer working in the same team issues a citation to the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation or is unable to issue the citation because of events beyond the control of the peace officer.

H.B. 2369 (Quintanilla) – Emergency Medical Personnel Training:  would: (1) prohibit the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) from requiring an emergency medical services course or training to be accredited by a national organization before 2018; (2) require DSHS to partner with a testing entity for paramedic examines; and (3) require the testing entity to charge any cost or fee to the examinee.

H.B. 2376 (Hamilton) – Plumbing: would, among other things, provide that a political subdivision that requires a responsible master plumber or an agent of a responsible master plumber to obtain a permit before performing plumbing in the political subdivision shall verify through the board’s Internet Web site, or by contacting the board by telephone, that the responsible master plumber has on file with the board a certificate of insurance.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1075 by Jackson.)

H.B. 2390 (S. Davis) – Confidential Information:  would provide that certain information collected, assembled, or maintained by an emergency response provider relating to preventing, detecting, responding to, or investigating an act of terrorism, criminal activity, or a natural disaster is confidential.

H.B. 2400 (D. Miller) – Water and Sewer Utilities:  would make certain changes to the process of city regulation of water rates assessed by non-city-owned water utilities within city limits, including: (1) requiring a utility to deliver a statement of intent to each ratepayer and the city, acting as regulatory authority over rates, at least 120 days before the proposed effective date of the proposed rate change; (2) repealing a city's authority to suspend the effective date of a proposed rate change during the city's review of the proposal; (3) requiring a city to suspend the date that a proposed rate change would be effective until the date that the city issues a final decision on the rate; (4) making the approval of rates automatic if no hearing is scheduled by the city within the time allotted; and (5) authorizing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to allow a city to provide sewer service without a certificate of convenience and necessity if certain requirements are met.

H.B. 2403 (Otto) – Sales Tax:  would provide that a retailer is engaged in business in this state if the retailer: (1) utilizes a Web site on a server in this state from which digital goods are sold or delivered; (2) holds a substantial ownership interest in, or is owned in whole or in substantial party by, a person who maintains a location in this state from which business is conducted if: (a) the retailer sells a substantially similar product as the related retailer and does so under a substantially similar name; and (2) the facilities or employees of the related retailer are used to advertise, promote, or facilitate sales by the retailer; or (3) holds a substantial ownership interest in, or is owned in whole or in substantial part by, a person that maintains a distribution center, warehouse, or similar location in the state that delivers property sold by the retailer.

H.B. 2406 (J. Davis) – Energy Efficiency Programs: would transfer certain energy assistance programs, including the state low income energy assistance program, from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

H.B. 2411 (Miles) – Emergency Management:  would require emergency management directors to determine whether leased dwellings are inhabitable after a disaster within 30 days of receiving a request to do so by a tenant.

H.B. 2413 (Miles) – Municipal Court:  would enable an individual who holds a commercial driver’s license to take a driver safety class as a condition of deferred disposition of a traffic offense.

H.B. 2424 (Thompson) – Gambling:  would: (1) provide for the operation of video gaming by authorized organizations and commercial operators that are licensed to conduct bingo or lease bingo premises; (2) preempt any conflicting zoning law that impedes the implementation of video gaming at a location where bingo was conducted on January 1, 2011, and where a video gaming retailer is authorized to conduct video gaming; (3) prohibit a city from imposing a tax or fee for attendance or admission to a video gaming premises unless specifically authorized by statute; (4) allow a video gaming retailer to conduct video gaming at a premises other than the licensed bingo premises if the city in which the premises is located holds an election in which a majority of the voters favor prohibiting bingo and the other premises are located in a jurisdiction in which a majority of the voters voting in an election held before January 1, 2011, voted in favor of legalizing bingo games; (5) authorize law enforcement personnel to be present at a retailer’s video gaming premises at any time and authorize municipal peace officers to enter and inspect the premises where video gaming is conducted or video gaming equipment is found; and (6) create certain misdemeanor offenses for video gaming by individuals young than 21 years of age. (Companion bill is S.B. 1212 by Van de Putte.)

H.B. 2425 (Thompson) – Litigation: would: (1) require a party to litigation who files a petition, motion, or other pleading challenging the constitutionality of a Texas statute to notify the attorney general; and (2) prohibit a court from entering a final judgment on the constitutionality of a state statute before the 60th day after the date the notice is served on the attorney general.

H.B. 2428 (Strama) – Property Tax:  would provide that a person who installs or constructs a solar or wind-powered energy device on land or on a building or other permanent structure is entitled to a property tax exemption.

H.B. 2431 (W. Smith) – TCEQ Enforcement:  would make several changes to the classification, evaluation, and use of compliance history by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

H.B. 2432 (J. Davis) – Public/Private Partnerships:  would create a program with detailed criteria to encourage public and private facilities and infrastructure.  (Companion bill is S.B. 1048 by Jackson.)

H.B. 2434 (Y. Davis) – Tax:  would repeal certain property tax and sales tax exemptions, including property tax exemptions for property owned by cities that is used for public purposes, and sales tax exemptions for taxable items sold, leased, rented to, or consumed by cities. 

H.B. 2435 (Deshotel) – Gas Rates: would provide that, in establishing a gas utility’s rates, the regulatory authority may and is encouraged to approve a tariff or rate schedule in which the rate for gas utility service is adjusted based on changes in the gas utility’s revenues, expenses, or investments.

H.B. 2443 (Price) – Parking on Highway:  would: (1) prohibit a person to remain or park a vehicle on a state highway right-of-way except in case of an emergency or for highway construction or maintenance purposes; and (2) provide that such parking is a class C misdemeanor.

H.B. 2446 (Allen) – Law Enforcement:  would authorize the release of certain confidential physician-patient communications during certain internal law enforcement investigations having to do with the use of force by a peace officer.

H.B. 2449 (Aliseda) – Elections:  would allow ballots or carrier envelopes that are possessed pursuant to a continuous course of conduct by a person over one or more days to be aggregated in order to assess the number of ballots or carrier envelopes for the purposes of determining if an offense was committed.  (Companion bill is H.B. 2585 by Pena.) 

H.B. 2451 (Zedler) – Public Retirement Systems: would require a member of a public retirement system, including the Texas Municipal Retirement System but not individual city retirement systems, who leaves a position but is reemployed to resume making contributions to the applicable retirement system.

H.B. 2452 (Zedler) – Health Care Institutions:  would require a health care institution owned by a political subdivision, including a hospital district, to provide written notice to certain individuals disclosing the liability limits applicable to a health care liability claim against the institution and whether a doctor or health care provider is covered by malpractice insurance or another form of financial responsibility.

H.B. 2456 (Zedler) – Property Tax:  would reduce the property tax rollback rate from 108 percent to the inflation rate as determined by the state comptroller.

H.B. 2460 (Truitt) – Public Retirement Systems:  would: (1)  make a public retirement system, including a municipal retirement system, subject to the Public Information Act; and (2) preempt any statute making information held by a public retirement system confidential.

H.B. 2461 (Bonnen) – Property Tax:  would provide that property tax arbitrators are immune from civil liability based on the arbitrator’s determination of the value of property or the appropriate award of any remedy or relief.  

H.B. 2462 (Bonnen) – Motor Vehicle Tax:  would exempt motor vehicles used or sold by trauma service area regional advisory councils from motor vehicle taxes and the costs of vehicle registration.

H.B. 2466 (Phillips) – Cell Phone Ban:  would prohibit a person under eighteen years of age from operating a motor vehicle while using a wireless communications device.

H.B. 2471 (Phillips) – Animal Control:  would limit the civil liability of animal control agencies and their employees who, within the scope of employment and in good faith, take custody of certain animals that are abandoned, running at large, or stray and are obtained from a person that certifies that they took reasonable steps to locate the owner.

H.B. 2476 (Harless) – Property Tax:  would: (1) expand the term “dealer’s heavy equipment inventory” to include items of heavy equipment that a dealer holds for lease or rent for purposes of appraisal for property tax purposes; and (2) require a person who engages in the sale, lease, ore rental of more than five items of heavy equipment in a calendar year to register with the comptroller. 

H.B. 2479 (Perry) – Litigation: would include cities and other governmental units as parties who may be referred to a court alternative dispute resolution system if the city is a party to a lawsuit in a district or county court with such a system. (Companion bill is S.B. 1271 by Duncan.)

H.B. 2483 (Pena) – DNRs and Advance Directives:  would make various revisions to the law relating to in-hospital and out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate orders, including those contained in an advance directive.

H.B. 2487 (Murphy) – Elections:  would provide that a person is not eligible to register to vote at a residence address if: (1) bathing and sleeping facilities are not available at the residence address; or (2) the person claims a different residence address as the person’s homestead on the person’s Texas driver’s license or personal identification card. 

H.B. 2489 (Scott) – Litigation:  would prohibit the use in court of statements made by a health care provider, including emergency services health care providers, of statements of apology, sympathy, explanation of medical treatment, or explanation of future actions to prevent similar occurrences.

H.B. 2507 (Chisum) – Irrigation Systems:  would create a class C misdemeanor if a person who is required to be licensed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in order to install an irrigation system does so without the required license.

H.B. 2529 (Price) – Property Tax:  would: (1) provide that an appraisal district is governed by a board of five directors, four of whom are appointed by the commissioners court of the county in which the appraisal district is established, with the county assessor-collector serving as a non-voting director; (2) repeal other laws authorizing a city council, in conjunction with other taxing units in an appraisal district, to appoint board members, to force an audit of the district, to disapprove of board actions, and to reject an appraisal district’s budget; and (3) prevent an individual that is an employee of a taxing unit in the appraisal district from being appointed to the board of directors.

H.B. 2530 (Legler) – Foundation Repair Contractors:  would: (1) establish a foundation repair contractors advisory board, the membership of which must include one city official; (2) require the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to establish standards for the practice of foundation repair, insurance requirements, licensure requirements, and prohibited practices; (3) authorize the Department of Licensing and Regulation to contract with political subdivisions for enforcement; (4) require licensees to provide notice to a city that the person has a license and authorize a city to charge a related fee; (5) exempt certain persons from licensure but not from city permit, inspection, or approval requirements; (6) provide that an individual who holds a license is not required to hold a license issued by a city to engage in foundation repair contracting in the city; and (7) provide that a person commits a class C misdemeanor if the person knowingly engages in foundation repair contracting without holding a license. 

H.B. 2532 (Veasey) – Life Insurance:  would: (1) allow a local government, including a city, or an assignee or designee of a local government to be designated as a beneficiary in a policy that insures the life of an employee or retired employee of the local government at the time the life insurance policy was issued but subsequently ceased employment for any reason; and (2) establish the circumstance allowed in (1), above, as an authorized investment if the policy allows the employee or retired employee to designate a beneficiary for a portion of the policy and the local government allows the employee or retired employee to decline coverage under the policy.

H.B. 2543 (W. Smith) – Professional Services:    would consolidate the licensing and regulation of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and land surveying into one new state agency known as the Texas Board of Professional Services.

H.B. 2551 (Chisum) – Grit Trap Waste:  would permit land application of grit trap waste to be considered recovery, recycling, or reuse, but only in specific situations.

H.B. 2563 (Christian) – Elections:  would provide that a city with a population of less than 5,000 is exempt from certain electronic voting machine requirements.  The exemption would not apply during an election held jointly with a county election.

H.B. 2566 (N. Gonzalez) – Parking:  would prohibit the holder of a dealer distinguishing number for a location from consigning vehicles for sale in an area adjacent to the location that is on a public roadway, easement, right-of-way, or driveway, unless the governing body of the entity that owns the roadway, easement, right-of-way, or driveway consents in writing.

H.B. 2567 (N. Gonzalez) – Motor Vehicle Complaints:  would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to make information about how to submit a complaint about a motor vehicle dealer available to be posted in various public areas, including a city attorney’s office.

H.B. 2570 (Martinez) – Low Speed Vehicles:  would require a city to prohibit the use of “low-speed vehicles” to transport passengers for compensation. 

H.B. 2583 (Walle) – Gangs:  would require the attorney general to establish a gang remediation task force to be made up of representatives from various entities, including cities and local law enforcement agencies.

H.B. 2585 (Pena) – Elections:  would allow ballots or carrier envelopes that are possessed pursuant to a continuous course of conduct by a person over one or more days to be aggregated in order to assess the number of ballots or carrier envelopes for the purposes of determining if an offense was committed.  (Companion bill is H.B. 2449 by Aliseda.) 

H.B. 2587 (Pena) – Elections:  would provide that a person providing assistance to a voter: (1) must be a registered voter of the county in which the election is being held; (2) shall provide photo identification to an election officer at the polling place; (3) may not assist more than two voters in a day, which includes early voting and voting by mail; and (4) commits a  class C misdemeanor if the person assists more than two voters in a day.

H.B. 2588 (Pena) – Elections:  would provide that a poll watcher is entitled to be present at the voting station when a voter is being assisted by a person of the voter’s choice.

H.B. 2596 (Garza) – Speed Limits:  would authorize a city to lower the speed limit of a one-lane or two-lane highway in the city that is not an official part of the state highway system to not less than twenty miles per hour, if the governing body determines that the prima facie speed limit is unreasonable or unsafe.

H.B. 2598 (Garza) – Property Tax:  would provide that a property owner may be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees if the owner prevails in an appeal to the court of a protest of the modification or denial of a tax exemption.

H.B. 2601 (Nash) – Political Signs:  would: (1) prohibit a public official, including a city official, from removing a political sign from  private real property, if the sign is placed on the property in compliance with an applicable law; (2) prohibit a property owner association from prohibiting political signs; and (3) provide penalties for violations.

H.B. 2605 (L. Taylor) – Workers’ Compensation:  would: (1) provide for a contested case hearing if a party has a medical dispute regarding workers compensation that is not resolved by an independent review; (2) allow judicial review of the case after the contested case hearing if there is still a dispute;  (3) change the authority on who can allow an employee to seek an alternate doctor from the workers’ compensation division to the workers’ compensation insurance carrier; (4) change the authority on who can accelerate workers compensation benefits from the workers’ compensation division to the workers’ compensation insurance carrier; (5) subject to administrative review: (a) denial of an alternate doctor subject to administrative review;  (b) denial of accelerated benefits; (c) a dispute as to the amount of benefits; (d) denial of supplemental benefits; (e) medical fee dispute; and (6) change the way administrative violations by workers’ compensation insurance carriers are treated. 

H.B. 2606 (Nash) – Political Expenditures:  would authorize a corporation or labor organization to designate a trade association or member organization as the recipient of political expenditures to finance the establishment or administration of a general-purpose committee.  

H.B. 2607 (Beck) – Property Tax:  would provide that the surviving spouse of a firefighter or peace officer killed in the line of duty is entitled to a property tax exemption for the total appraised value of the surviving spouse’s residence homestead for a period of five consecutive years.  

H.J.R. 110 (Y. Davis) – Eminent Domain:  would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that adequate compensation for the taking of property that is a homestead or farm, if the taking makes relocation of the homestead or farm necessary, includes the cost of relocation from the condemned property to another property that allows the property owner to: (1) have a standard of living comparable to the property owner's standard of living immediately before the taking, if the property taken is a homestead; or  (2) operate a comparable farm, if the property taken is a farm.

H.J.R. 111 (Woolley) – Gambling:  would amend the Texas Constitution to: (1) authorize a state video lottery system to operate video lottery games at certain horse and greyhound racetracks; (2) prohibit political subdivisions from taking action to repeal or revoke a previous authorization by its voters approving the legalization or conduct of pari-mutuel wagering on horse or greyhound races at a racetrack in the political subdivision if the track may be authorized to operate video lottery games; and (3) provide that generally recognized Indian tribes are not prohibited from conducting games of chance on certain Indian lands. (Please see S.J.R. 33, below, and H.B. 2111, above.)

H.J.R. 112 (Menendez) – Gambling:  would provide for an election for a constitutional amendment that would: (1) authorize forms of casino gaming; (2) give 1/30th of the revenue received by the state for gaming to the city in which the casino is located; (3) preempt any city ordinance or regulation that would disallow a gaming establishment within the city; (4) allow a city to regulate a gaming establishment through building codes and health and safety ordinances; (5) disallow a casino from being located in an area zoned exclusively residential; (6) prohibit a city from imposing a tax or fee on a gaming establishment;  (7) require a county wide vote before a casino can be located in a county; and (8) require that state revenue from regulation of gaming, after paying for administrative costs go to the property tax relief fund in the general revenue fund. (Companion joint resolution is S.J.R. 112 by Ellis). 

H.J.R. 114 (Munoz) – Property Tax:  would amend the Texas Constitution to authorize the legislature to define the term “disabled” for purposes of eligibility for a local property tax exemption or local property tax freeze on the residence homestead of a disabled person.

H.J.R. 117 (Bonnen) – Property Tax:  would amend the Texas Constitution to authorize the legislature to adopt a statute allowing a property owner to apply for an extension of a residence homestead exemption for up to three tax years following the tax year in which the owner ceases to occupy a residence if the former residence homestead: (1) is not occupied or leased to any person; (2) is being actively offered for sale; and (3) is not used for any business or commercial purpose.

H.J.R. 119 (Thompson) – Gambling:  would amend the Texas Constitution to:  (1) authorize the operating of video gaming by persons and organizations licensed to conduct bingo or lease bingo premises; (2) limit video gaming operations to gaming operations in certain locations, including incorporated cities and towns, that have held elections in which the conduct of bingo games in the jurisdiction was approved by  the voters; and (3) provide that federally recognized Indian tribes are not prohibited from conducting gaming on certain Indian lands. (Companion resolution is S.J.R. 35 by Van de Putte.)  (Note:  please see H.B. 2424, above.)

H.J.R. 120 (Munoz) – Vacancy on Governing Body:  would amend the Texas Constitution to authorize a home-rule city to provide in its charter the procedure to fill a vacancy on the city council where the unexpired term is 24 months or less.

H.J.R. 128 (Beck) – Property Tax:  would amend the Texas Constitution to allow the legislature to provide that the surviving spouse of a firefighter or peace officer killed in the line of duty is entitled to a property tax exemption for the total appraised value of the surviving spouse’s residence homestead for a period of five consecutive years.

S.B. 9 (Wentworth) – Law Enforcement:  would: (1) require a police officer to verify the immigration status of any person who is arrested based on being charged with an offense; (2) require an officer verifying the immigration status to notify the federal government if the officer is unable to verify a person's immigration status; (3) add a $100 law enforcement fee to a conviction for a misdemeanor drug offenses; (4) require a city to keep separate records of the law enforcement fee and send the fees to the state comptroller for law enforcement purposes; (5) require a city to file a report to the comptroller regardless of whether any fee is collected; and (6) allow the Department of Public Safety to create driver's license and financial responsibility checkpoints in conjunction with local law enforcement authorities.

S.B. 655 (Hegar) – Texas Railroad Commission:  would abolish the Texas Railroad Commission, create the Texas Oil and Gas Commission, transfer of the powers and duties of the Railroad Commission to the new  commission, and provide for various administrative changes.

S.B. 1051 (Ellis) – Taxes:  would create a “select commission on periodic tax review” and charge the commission with periodically reviewing all state and local taxes and other revenue sources and making recommendations as to whether the taxes or revenue sources should be continued or repealed.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1308 by Villarreal.)

S.B. 1060 (Van de Putte) – Law Enforcement:  would: (1) authorize a city to create a first offender prostitution prevention program; and (2) authorize such a program to collect a fee not to exceed $1,000 to cover the costs of the program, five percent of which would go to the police department in the city in order to provide training on domestic violence, prostitution, and human trafficking. (This bill is identical to H.B. 1994 by Weber.)

S.B. 1061 (Harris) – Property Tax:  would require a court to issue a tax warrant authorizing the seizure of personal property for the payment of property taxes if the applicant for the warrant has reason to believe that personal property owned by the property owner will be sold at a liquidation sale in connection with the cessation of a business.  (Companion bill is H.B. 930 by Darby.)

S.B. 1065 (Williams) – Emergency Management:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2040, above.

S.B. 1070 (Jackson) – Prop 2:  would provide that representatives of school districts required to take action to equalize the district’s wealth level must sit on TCEQ’s permanent advisory committee regarding property tax exemptions for pollution control property. 

S.B. 1073 (M. Jackson) – Rainwater:  would authorize the use of harvested rainwater for potable indoor purposes, so long as the structure in which it is used has appropriate cross-connection safeguards.

S.B. 1075 (Jackson) – Plumbing: would, among other things, provide that a political subdivision that requires a responsible master plumber or an agent of a responsible master plumber to obtain a permit before performing plumbing in the political subdivision shall verify through the board’s Internet Web site, or by contacting the board by telephone, that the responsible master plumber has on file with the board a certificate of insurance. 

S.B. 1076 (Ellis) – Law Enforcement:  would expand the situations in which certain drug offenders may petition the court for an order prohibiting a police department from disclosing to the public criminal history record information related to the original drug-related offense.

S.B. 1080 (Williams) – Texas Department of Rural Affairs: would transfer the Texas Department of Rural Affairs to the Office of Rural Affairs within the Department of Agriculture and abolish the board of the Texas Department of Rural Affairs.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1912 by Bonnen.)

S.B. 1082 (Hegar) – Special Districts: would: (1) provide that a city may enter into a strategic partnership agreement only with certain conservation and reclamation districts; and (2)  to be annexed for limited purposes under a strategic partnership agreement, an area must be in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and contiguous to the corporate or limited purpose boundaries unless the district consents to noncontiguous annexation pursuant to a strategic partnership agreement with the city.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1979 by Laubenberg.)

S.B. 1083 (Hegar) – Development Agreements: would amend the current law relating to development agreements (which includes by reference non-annexation agreements for agriculture-exempt property) to: (1) provide that a city may make a written contract with an owner of land that is located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city; and (2) provide that the contract may include only those lawful terms and conditions that the city and the land owner agree to, including among other things: (a) a guarantee of the continuation of the extraterritorial status of the land and its immunity from annexation for any period up to 45 years (i.e., the bill would delete the 15-year term limit in current law); and (b) providing that the total duration of the contract may not exceed 45 years.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1643 by Zerwas.)

S.B. 1087 (Carona) – Cable and Video Service: would provide that:  (1) beginning September 1, 2011, a cable service provider or video service provider that was not allowed to or did not terminate a municipal franchise under the current state franchise law (S.B. 5 (2005)) may elect to terminate that franchise and seek a state-issued certificate of franchise authority for the area served under the municipal franchise by providing written notice to the Public Utility Commission and the affected city before January 1, 2012;(2) a cable service provider that elects to terminate an existing municipal franchise is responsible for remitting to the affected city before the 91st day after the date the municipal franchise is terminated any accrued but unpaid franchise fees due under the terminated franchise;(3) a city may review the business records of a cable service provider or video service provider to the extent necessary to ensure compensation in accordance with a state-issued franchise, provided that the city may only review records that relate to the 48-month period preceding the date of the last franchise fee payment; (4) if a city uses the one-percent public, education, and governmental (PEG) channel fee for a purpose that is not authorized by federal law, the fees are chargeable as a credit against the state-issued franchise fee payments;(5) a city that receives PEG fees: (a) shall maintain revenue from the fees in a separate account established for that purpose; (b) may not commingle revenue from the fees with any other money; (c) shall maintain a record of each deposit to and disbursement from the separate account, including a record of the payee and purpose of each disbursement; and (d)  not later than January 31 of each year, shall provide to each certificate holder that pays a fee to the city a detailed accounting of the deposits to and disbursements from the separate account made in the preceding calendar year; (6) once a local franchise is terminated under the bill, cable services to community public buildings, such as municipal buildings and public schools, no longer have to be provided; (7) on the   expiration or termination of a local franchise agreement, a provider that provides such services may deduct from the franchise fee to be paid to the city an amount equal to the actual incremental cost of the services if the city requires the services after that date; and (8) where technically feasible, the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority that is not an incumbent cable service provider and an incumbent cable service provider, including an incumbent cable service provider that holds a state-issued certificate of franchise authority issued after terminating pursuant to the bill, shall use reasonable efforts to interconnect their cable or video systems for the purpose of providing PEG programming.  (Note:  this bill is apparently meant to be part of a “paired package” with H.B. 259, above.  In addition, H.B. 256 is substantially similar to this bill.)

S.B. 1089 (Rodriguez) – Property Tax:  would: (1) provide that the surviving spouse of a member of the armed forces of the United States who dies while on active duty is entitled to an exemption from property taxation of the total assessed value of the property; and (2) provide that an exemption from taxation to which a surviving child of the deceased active duty member of the armed forces is entitled is computed by dividing the greater of the assessed value of the property or $5,000 by the number of eligible children.  

S.B. 1095 (Rodriguez) – Cell Phone Ban:  would: (1) except a city from the requirement to post a sign at a school crossing zone regarding the prohibited use of a wireless communication device if the city prohibits the use of a wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle throughout its jurisdiction; and (2) authorize political subdivisions, including a city, to regulate the use of a wireless communication device by the operator of a motor vehicle. (Companion bill is H.B. 1899 by Pickett.)

S.B. 1097 (Eltife) – Certificates of Convenience and Necessity:  would modify the law allowing a city to obtain single certification to provide water service in an annexed area to allow the city to obtain the certificate for that area from any public utility, rather than only non-profit water supply corporations, special utility districts, or fresh water supply districts.

S.B. 1099 (Van de Putte) – Smoke Alarms and Fire Extinguishers:  would make several changes to the law regarding smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in residential rental units, including that: (1) a local ordinance could not require that a smoke alarm powered by alternating current, rather than battery, be installed in a dwelling unit built before September 1, 1987, unless: (a) the interior of the unit is repaired, remodeled, or rebuilt at a projected cost of more than $5,000 and requires a building permit; or (b) an addition occurs to the unit at a projected cost of more than $5,000; (2) if a dwelling unit was occupied as a residence before September 1, 2011, or a certificate of occupancy was issued before that date, a smoke alarm may be powered by battery, alternating current, or other power source and is not required to be interconnected with other smoke alarms but that the alarm must comply with any local ordinance in effect at the time the unit was first occupied or a certificate of occupancy was issued requiring the alarm be powered by alternating current or other power source. (Companion bill is H.B. 1168 by D. Miller.)

S.B. 1102 (Wentworth) – Bus Only Lanes:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2327, above.

S.B. 1106 (Harris) – Juveniles:  would require school districts and other agencies and courts that deal with juveniles and juvenile offenders to share more records with other agencies and courts that deal with juveniles and juvenile offenders.

S.B. 1108 (W. Davis) – Child Pornography:  would require a computer technician to report images of child pornography to a local or state law enforcement agency or a “Cyber Tipline” and provide a criminal penalty for failure to make such a report.

S.B. 1115 (Wentworth) – “Qui Tam” Lawsuits:  would authorize a private individual to sue a city on behalf of the State of Texas, alleging that the city defrauded the state by making a false claim for state funds or property.

S.B. 1117 (Whitmire) – Failure to Attend School:  would require a parent to intentionally fail to require a child to attend school as required by law in order to commit the offense of contributing to the nonattendance of a public school student.

S.B. 1118 (Hinojosa) – Gambling:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2111, above.

S.B. 1119 (Ellis) – Recycling:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2114, above. 

S.B. 1120 (Seliger) – Property Tax:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2100, above. 

S.B. 1122 (Estes) – Property Tax:  would: (1) allow a city to sell a delinquent tax receivable at any time through a negotiated sale or competitive bidding on terms that the city determines are in its best interest; and (2) provide that the sale of a delinquent tax receivable does not alter or affect the duty or authority of a local government to collect a delinquent tax receivable.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1903 by Keffer.)

S.B. 1128 (Jackson) – Elections:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2194, above.

S.B. 1133 (Hegar) – Electric Generation:  would provide that the Public Utility Commission, in consultation with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, shall prepare a report on the weatherization and preparedness of generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to be available prior to the summer and winter of each year.

S.B. 1134 (Hegar) – Oil and Gas Regulation:  would: (1) require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to perform certain environmental and air quality analyses before adopting a new permit or amending an existing permit relating certain oil and gas facilities; and (2) authorize the TCEQ to authorize planned maintenance, startup, or shutdown activities from certain oil and gas facilities.

S.B. 1135 (Hegar) – Gas Pipelines/Municipal Jurisdiction:  would create the Gas Pipeline Regulatory Act, which would – among other things – provide that: (1) the Railroad Commission has exclusive original jurisdiction over the rates and services of a gas pipeline that transmits, transports, delivers, or sells natural gas or synthetic natural gas to a gas utility that distributes the gas to the public; (2) the commission is vested with all the authority and power of the state to ensure compliance with the obligations of gas pipelines; (3) detailed requirements apply to, among other things, records, audits, inspections, establishment of rates, services standards, and other facets of gas pipelines; (4) a city maintains the rights and powers of a city to grant or refuse a franchise to use the streets and alleys in the city or to make a statutory charge for that use; (5) a city that performs a regulatory function may make each charge that is authorized by a state law or the applicable franchise agreement; (6) a franchise agreement may not limit or interfere with a power conferred on the commission by the bill; (6) the governing body of a city participating in a ratemaking proceeding may engage rate consultants, accountants, auditors, attorneys, and engineers to: (a) conduct investigations, present evidence, and advise and represent the governing body; and (b) assist the governing body with litigation or a gas pipeline ratemaking proceeding before the railroad commission or court.; (7) the gas pipeline in the ratemaking proceeding shall reimburse the governing body of the city for the reasonable cost of the services of a such person to the extent the commission determines reasonable; (8) provide that: (a) a city has standing in each case before the commission that relates to a gas pipeline's rates and services in the city; (b) a city's standing is subject to the right of the commission to consolidate that city with another party on an issue of common interest; and (c) a city is entitled to judicial review of a commission order relating to a gas pipeline's rates and services; (8) with regard to a gas pipeline’s costs of relocating a facility to accommodate construction or improvement of a highway,  road, street, public way, or other public work by or on behalf of the United States, this state, a political subdivision, or another entity having the power of eminent domain, a gas  pipeline may recover its relocation costs through a surcharge on gas volumes sold and transported to customers in the service area where the relocation occurred by applying to the commission for a new rate schedule or tariff; (9) a surcharge application must include sufficient documentation to demonstrate the requirement for each relocation, the entity requiring the relocation,  costs incurred for relocation of comparable facilities, surcharge computations, and  that reasonable efforts have been made to receive reimbursement from the entity requiring the relocation, if applicable; (10) not later than the 35th day after the date a surcharge application is received, the commission shall administratively grant or deny the application, or the application is automatically approved.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1968 by Chisum.)

S.B. 1156 (Lucio) – Fireworks:  would: (1) authorize a retail fireworks permit holder to sell fireworks beginning on the fourteenth day preceding Memorial Day and ending at midnight on Memorial Day; (2) require the Texas Forest Service to make its services available each day during the Memorial Day fireworks season to determine whether drought conditions exist; and (3) require that an order of a commissioners court prohibiting or restricting the sale or use of fireworks be adopted before May 5 for the Memorial Day fireworks season.

S.B. 1160 (Seliger) – Trespassers: would provide that an owner, lessee, or occupant of land: (1) owes a duty to refrain from injuring a trespasser willfully, wantonly, or through gross negligence; and (2) may, under certain circumstances, be liable for injury to a child younger than 16 years of age caused by a highly dangerous artificial condition on the land. (Companion bill is H.B. 1971 by J. Jackson). 

S.B. 1162 (Wentworth) – Law Enforcement:  would:  (1) require a mental health professional to report to law enforcement personnel and disclose confidential information relating to a patient if the professional has reason to believe and does believe that the patient or another person is mentally ill and intends to attempt suicide by provoking a lethal response by a police officer or cause serious bodily injury to a government official or other individual; (2) authorize a peace officer to take a person into custody without a warrant if the officer receives such a report from a mental health professional;  (3) require a peace officer who takes a person into custody upon receipt of a report from a mental health professional to file a written report with the Department of Public Safety; and (4) require a local police department to establish departmental procedures to ensure that each officer has adequate access to reports of individuals who have been reported as a risk to themselves or others.

S.B. 1164 (Wentworth) – Texas Municipal Retirement System:  would give the members of the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) another option when calculating possible increases in annuities or supplemental benefits given to retirees and beneficiaries of deceased retirees. 

S.B. 1172 (Deuell) – Sales Tax:  would require the comptroller to establish guidelines allowing for the use of an automated sales tax remittance system for retailers to remit sales taxes. 

S.B. 1174 (Deuell) – Workers Compensation:  would require that a city ensure that a police officer or firefighter who is injured in the line of duty be provided with necessary medical care, compensation to pay for health care services to cure or relieve the injury and any effects naturally resulting from the injury, and any necessary artificial body part within ten days of receiving notice of a compensable injury.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1961 by Deshotel). 

S.B. 1187 (Watson) – Eminent Domain:  would provide that a notice of lis pendens is effective only from the time it is indexed by the county clerk.

S.B. 1191 (Gallegos) – Arsonist Registration:  would create a program for registration of convicted arsonists with local police departments very similar to that in place for sex offenders.

S.B. 1199 (Patrick) – Elections:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2191, above.

S.B. 1201 (Patrick) – Regulatory Takings:  would make most city regulations subject to the Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act, which would: (1) waive sovereign immunity to suit and liability for a regulatory taking; (2) authorize a private real property owner to bring suit to determine whether the governmental action of a city results in a taking; (3) require a city to prepare a “takings impact assessment” prior to imposing certain regulations; and (4) require a city to post 30-days notice of the adoption of most regulations prior to adoption.  The bill would also define a “taking” as: (a) a governmental action or series of actions that affects private real property, in whole or in part or temporarily or permanently, in a manner that requires the governmental entity to compensate the private real property owner as provided by the federal or state constitutions, affects an owner's private real property that is the subject of the governmental action, in whole or in part or temporarily or permanently, in a manner that restricts or limits the owner's right to the property that would otherwise exist in the absence of the governmental action, and is the cause of a reduction of at least 25 percent in the market value of the affected private real property; or (b) a governmental action or series of actions that has the effect of limiting the overall impervious cover of any development or use of an owner's private real property to less than 35 percent of the surface area of the property in most instances.  The bill would also:  (1) provide that the Act does not apply to certain governmental actions, such as an action taken to prohibit or restrict a condition or use of private real property if the governmental  entity proves that the condition or use constitutes a public or private nuisance as defined by background principles of nuisance and property law of this state; an action taken out of a reasonable good faith belief that the action is necessary to prevent a grave and immediate threat to life or property; or an action that is designed to significantly advance a health and safety purpose; (2) extend the statute of limitations for a claim under the Act from 180 days to two years; (3) change the current remedies in the Act to allow for a property owner to seek invalidation of the governmental regulation and money damages from the governmental entity that imposes the regulation; (4) provide that a court shall award a governmental entity that prevails in a suit or contested case filed under the Act reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees and court costs, but only if the court determines that the private real property owner knew that the suit or contested case had no merit at the time the owner filed the suit; and (5) provide that a proposed governmental action that requires a takings impact assessment may be stayed by a court if an assessment is not prepared or if the assessment is not in compliance with guidelines developed by the attorney general under the Act.

S.B. 1205 (Jackson) – Property Tax:  would provide that a replacement structure for a structure that was rendered uninhabitable or unusable by a casualty or by wind or water damage is not considered to be a new improvement for property tax purposes if a building code, fire code, local ordinance, or government assistance program requires: (1) the square footage of the replacement structure to exceed that of the replaced structure; or (2) the exterior of the replacement structure be of higher quality construction and composition than that of the replaced structure.

S.B. 1210 (Whitmire) – Peace Officer Identification Card:  would make various changes to the peace officer identification card requirements, including requiring a law enforcement agency to provide an identification card to any honorably retired peace officer and allow the card to be issued without an expiration date.

S.B. 1212 (Van de Putte) – Gambling:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2424, above.

S.B. 1216 (Estes) – Arbitration:  would: (1) require a court to promptly determine whether an agreement to arbitrate is valid and enforceable against a party seeking to avoid arbitration; and (2) allow a court to order arbitration only if the court determines the agreement to arbitrate is valid and enforceable.

S.B. 1217 (Estes) – Underground Excavations: would provide, among other things, that the “call before you dig” requirements in current law do not apply to an emergency excavation that is necessary to respond to a situation that endangers life, health, or property, and provide procedures and increased penalties for certain violations under the bill.

S.B. 1224 (Estes) – Gift to Public Servant:  would: (1) generally provide for the treatment of contributions made and personal services rendered to public servants; and (2) provide that an individual’s personal service, if the individual receives no compensation for the service, does not constitute a gift to a public servant or the offer of a gift to a public servant under the Penal Code.

S.B. 1237 (Williams) – Driver’s License Information:  would provide that a person who is certified, or otherwise authorized, to take or analyze a breath specimen is not prohibited from accessing or using electronically readable information derived from a driver’s license, commercial driver’s license, or personal identification certificate. (Companion bill is H.B. 1391 by Deshotel.)

S.B. 1238 (Carona) – Emergency Notification:  would: (1) allow a public service provider, including a city, to use an emergency notification system to notify the provider’s customers, governmental entities and other affected persons of: (a) a disaster or emergency; and (b) actions to take during a disaster or emergency; (2) require an emergency notification system to use a dynamic information database for simultaneous transmission of the information; and (3) give a provider the right to receive confidential 9-1-1 contact information to use the emergency notification system.

S.B. 1240 (West) – Substandard Housing: would provide that, if a city or a county revokes a certificate of occupancy for a leased premises because of the landlord’s failure to maintain the premises, the landlord is liable to a tenant who is not in default under the lease for: (1) the full amount of the tenant’s security deposit; (2) the pro rata portion of any rental payment the tenant has paid in advance; (3) the tenant’s actual damages, including any moving costs, utility connection fees, storage fees, and lost wages; and (4) court costs and attorney’s fees arising from any related cause of action by the tenant against the landlord.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1862 by Anchia.)

S.B. 1241 (West) – Juveniles:  would authorize a municipal court exercising jurisdiction over a juvenile in a truancy case to access confidential information from the Department of Public Safety’s juvenile justice information system.

S.B. 1245 (Zaffirini) – Eight Liners:  would: (1) authorize a commissioners court and – in some instances – a city, to order, on proper petition, a local option election to legalize or prohibit the operation of eight-liners; and (2) authorize the imposition of a fee on eight-liner owners and provide for the allocation of the fee revenue as follows: (a) thirty percent to the state’s general revenue fund; and (b) seventy percent to a city in which the eight-liner is located. (Companion bill is H.B. 1183 by Raymond.)

S.B. 1246 (Eltife) – Population Classifications: would update the hundreds of provisions in state law that bracket certain legislation to cities of a certain population.

S.B. 1252 (Williams) – Fiscal Notes and Unfunded Mandates:  would: (1) require that a resolution granting permission to sue the state be accompanied by a fiscal note; (2) require the Legislative Budget Board to establish a system of fiscal notes identifying the probable costs of a joint or concurrent resolution; (3) require that, upon request, state agencies prepare fiscal notes for pending concurrent resolutions; (4) define the term “mandate,” for purposes of Government Code Chapter 320, to include restrictions, rules enacted by state agencies, and required reports and exclude a provision of additional flexibility for allocating resources; (5) authorize the Sunset Advisory Commission, in its review of a state agency that affects political subdivisions, to include its report information about mandates on political subdivisions; (6) allow political subdivisions to present information to the Sunset Advisory Commission about mandates and conduct periodic reviews of mandates and recommend changes; (7) provide that a fiscal note that affects a political subdivision include a statement that evaluates whether the proposed rule creates an additional requirement or restriction on a political subdivision and, if so, whether any additional time or expenditures will be required; and (8) repeal various statutes, including Government Code Section 320.003 which requires the interagency work group to prepare a list of unfunded mandates on political subdivisions.

S.B. 1269 (Wentworth) – Honoraria:  would:  (1) remove an honorarium from the definition of a “political contribution,” and (2) would create an exemption for honoraria under the offenses relating to offering gifts to public servants and accepting gifts by public servants.

S.B. 1270 (Wentworth) – Public Information:  among other things, would: (1) make confidential a report required by the federal Bank Secrecy Act that is obtained by a governmental body for a law enforcement purpose; and (2) allow a governmental body to sign a confidentiality agreement that covers information in a report required by the federal Bank Secrecy Act that requires: (a) the information not be disclosed outside the governmental body; (b) the information be labeled as confidential; and (c) the information be kept secure.   

S.B. 1271 (Duncan) – Litigation:  this bill is the same as H.B. 2479, above. 

S.B. 1276 (Williams) – Energy Efficiency: this bill is the same as H.B. 2406, above.

S.B. 1283 (Watson) – Elections:  would provide that a person commits a first-degree felony if the person knowingly: (1) impersonates or uses the identity of another person and attempts to vote as that other person; (2) removes the name of an eligible voter from the list of registered voters or the poll list for an election precinct; (3) prevents the deposit of a marked and properly folded ballot in the ballot box; (4) provides false information to a voter about voting procedures resulting in the voter being prevented from casting a ballot that may be legally counted; (5) places restrictions on a voter’s exercise of the right to vote resulting in the voter being prevented from casting a ballot that may be legally counted; or (6) impersonates a law enforcement officer or provides false information about law enforcement procedures for the purpose of intimidating voters regardless of whether the voter casts a vote. 

S.B. 1292 (Hegar)  – Driver’s Licenses for Peace Officers:  would require the Department of Public Safety to adopt procedures for the issuance of a driver’s license to a peace officer that omits the officer’s actual residence address and includes, as an alternative, an address that is in the city or county of the peace officer’s residence.

S.B. 1298 (Hinojosa) – Enterprise Zones:  would allow a county commissioners court to nominate a project or activity of a qualified business as an enterprise project if the business is located both in the county and in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city primarily located in another county.  (Companion bill is H.B. 1560 by Scott.)

S.B. 1301 (Deuell) – MTBEs:  would: (1) provide standards for a manufacturer, processor, distributor, recycler, or seller of certain anti-freeze or engine coolant additives; (2) limit the liability of an entity listed in (1), above; and (3) provide that a political subdivision may not adopt or enforce an ordinance that is inconsistent with or more restricted than the standards in the bill.  (Companion bill is H.B. 437 by E. Rodriguez.)

S.B. 1302 (Deuell) – Elections:  would provide that a person commits a class A misdemeanor if the person: (1) compensates another person based on the number of voters assisted by that person; (2) presents another person with a quota of voters to be assisted; (3) engages in another practice that causes another person’s compensation from or employment status with the person to be dependent on the number of voters assisted; or (4) accepts compensation for (1), (2), or (3), above. 

S.B. 1306 (Hegar) – Groundwater:  would make significant changes to the process for determining desired future conditions and managed available groundwater.

S.J.R. 32 (Rodriguez) – Property Tax:  would amend the Texas Constitution to allow the spouse and children of any member of the United States Armed Forces who dies while on active duty to be granted an exemption from taxation for property valued at up to the total assessed value of the property. 

S.J.R. 33 (Hinojosa) – Gambling:  this resolution is the same as H.J.R. 111, above. (Note:  please see S.B. 1118, above.)

S.J.R. 34 (Ellis) – Gambling: would provide for an election for a constitutional amendment that would: (1) authorize forms of casino gaming; (2) give 1/30th of the revenue received by the state for gaming to the city in which the casino is located; (3) preempt any city ordinance or regulation that would disallow a gaming establishment within the city; (4) allow a city to regulate a gaming establishment through building codes and health and safety ordinances; (5) disallow a casino from being located in an area zoned exclusively residential; (6) prohibit a city from imposing a tax or fee on a gaming establishment;  (7) require a county wide vote before a casino can be located in a county; and (8) require that state revenue from regulation of gaming, after paying for administrative costs go to the property tax relief fund in the general revenue fund. (Companion joint resolution is H.J.R. 112 by Menendez). 

S.J.R. 35 (Van de Putte) – Gambling:  this resolution is the same as H.J.R. 119, above.  (Note:  please see S.B. 1212, above.)

S.J.R. 37 (Van de Putte) – Resign to Run:  would amend the constitution to repeal the provision that requires the automatic resignation of certain municipal officeholders if they announce their candidacy for another public office with more than one year remaining in their current term.

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