CITY-RELATED BILLS FILED

H.B. 263 (Hilderbran) – Underground Excavations: would provide, among other things: (1) 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 (2) for procedures and increased penalties for certain violations under the bill. (Companion bill is S.B. 1217 by Estes.)

H.B. 268 (Hilderbran) – Sales Tax: would require a person to apply for and obtain an exemption number from the comptroller in order to qualify for a sales tax exemption for certain agricultural items.

H.B. 270 (Hilderbran) – Sales Tax: would require the state comptroller, upon request, to provide to a city information relating to the amount of sales tax paid to the city during the preceding calendar year by each entity doing business in the city that remits annual sales tax payments of more than $5,000 to the comptroller.

H.B. 274 (Creighton) – Litigation: this is omnibus tort reform legislation and would make various procedural changes to civil litigation regarding attorney’s fees, early dismissal, expedited trials, and certain remedies and procedures. (Note: city attorneys need to review this bill carefully.)

H.B. 303 (McClendon) – Commuter Rail Districts: would provide, among other things, that: (1) an agreement to create an intermunicipal commuter rail district may establish one or more transportation infrastructure tax increment zones, which may consist of a contiguous or noncontiguous geographic area in the territory of one or more local governments; (2) a district and a local government may agree that, at one or more specified times, the local government will pay to the district an amount that is calculated on the basis of increased ad valorem tax collections in a zone that are attributable to increased values of property located in the zone resulting from an infrastructure project; and (3) money received by a district may be used to, among other things, pay economic development costs associated with district projects, including a portion of the cost of affordable housing in a zone, assistance to a private entity to provide affordable housing in the zone, or for acquiring property rights for underdeveloped lands in the zone to be preserved for the benefit of the public.

H.B. 800 (C. Anderson) – Purchasing: would provide that an interlocal contract between a governmental entity and a purchasing cooperative may not be used to purchase roofing materials or services, including materials or services for construction, repair, or replacement of a roof.

H.B. 2398 (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. 2447 (Hartnett) – Sales Tax: would provide that, for sales tax purposes, the sales price of telecommunications services does not include the following assessments and fees, if the assessment or fee is passed through to the purchaser of the service: (1) the utility gross receipts assessment; (2) the state universal service fund assessment; (3) the federal universal service fund charge; or (4) a municipal franchise fee or right-of-way fee.

H.B. 2490 (Solomons) – Precious Metals: would, among many new provisions regarding the sale of precious crafted metals, provide that: (1) the Texas Finance Commission shall regulate and license persons in the business of purchasing and selling crafted previous metal; (2) a peace officer who has reasonable suspicion to believe that an item of crafted precious metal in the possession of a dealer is stolen may place the item on hold by issuing to the dealer a written notice that specifically identifies the item alleged to be stolen and subject to the hold and informs the dealer of the bill’s requirements; and (3) on receiving the notice, the dealer may not melt, deface, alter, or dispose of the identified crafted precious metal until the hold is released in writing by a peace officer or a court order.

H.B. 2527 (Harper-Brown) – Transportation Funding: would provide that, beginning in ten percent increments in 2013 and being complete in 2022, the net revenue derived from the state sales tax imposed on the sale of a motor vehicle sold in this state shall be deposited to the credit of the state highway fund. (Companion bill is S.B. 523 by Nichols.)

H.B. 2571 (Martinez) – Transportation Reinvestment Zones: would authorize a city or a county to establish a transportation reinvestment zone to provide commuter rail services in counties adjacent to the Texas-Mexico border and from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio.

H.B. 2608 (Harper-Brown) – Department of Housing and Community Affairs: this is the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) sunset bill. It would, among many other things, provide that: (1) TDHCA is continued for 12 years; (2) pursuant to the Texas Disaster Act, each local and interjurisdictional agency shall prepare and keep current an emergency management plan for its area providing for disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery that identifies any requirements or procedures that local agencies and officials must satisfy or implement to qualify for long-term federal disaster recovery funding, prepare for long-term disaster recovery, and any appropriate state or local resources available to assist the local agencies and officials in satisfying or implementing those requirements or procedures; (3) TDHCA, in consultation with the Texas Department of Rural Affairs and the office of the governor, shall develop – in consultation with local government officials and others – a long-term disaster recovery plan to administer money received for disaster recovery from the federal government or any other source; and (4) if an application for low income housing tax credits satisfies TDHCA’s threshold criteria, TDHCA shall score and rank the application using a point system that takes into account – among other things – quantifiable community participation with respect to the development evaluated on the basis of a resolution concerning the development that is voted on and adopted by the governing body of a city whose boundaries contain the proposed development site or by the commissioners court of a county whose boundaries contain the proposed development site. (Companion bill is S.B. 665 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 2612 (Aliseda) – Elections: would require the county or district attorney to notify the attorney general of allegations of criminal conduct in connection with an election if no prosecution is initiated.

H.B. 2619 (Callegari) – Water and Wastewater Facilities: would provide that: (1) each water and wastewater utility, including a municipally owned utility, shall submit certain infrastructure information to each retail electric provider that sells electric power to the utility, each electric utility that provides transmission and distribution service to the utility, the office of emergency management of each county in which the utility has water and wastewater facilities that qualify for critical load status under rules adopted by the Public Utility Commission (PUC), and to the PUC and the division of emergency management of the governor; and (2) if an electric utility determines that a water or wastewater utility’s facilities do not qualify for critical load status, the electric utility and the retail electric provider shall provide a detailed explanation of the electric utility’s determination to the affected utility and to the office of emergency management of the county in which the water and wastewater facilities are located.

H.B. 2620 (Hancock) – Telecommunications: would provide, among other things, that: (1) a city may not by rule, order, or other means directly or indirectly regulate rates charged for, service or contract terms for, conditions for, or requirements for entry into the market for Voice over Internet Protocol services or other Internet Protocol enabled services; and (2) the limitation in (1), above, does not: (a) affect payment of municipal right-of-way fees applicable to Voice over Internet Protocol services; (b) affect any person’s obligation to provide video service as defined by S.B. 5 (2005)(the state video franchise law) under any applicable state or federal law; or (c) require or prohibit assessment of enhanced 9-1-1, relay access service, or universal service fund fees on Voice over Internet Protocol service. (Companion bill is S.B. 980 by Carona.)

H.B. 2623 (Beck) – Critical Governmental Facilities: would require the State Energy Conservation Office to establish guidelines for the evaluation required by state law when a critical governmental facility (including a jail, police or fire station, and water or wastewater facility, among others) is constructed, renovated, or major heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment is replaced in order to determine whether installing a combined heating and power system would result in energy cost savings over a twenty-year period.

H.B. 2628 (Branch) – Cell Phone Ban: would: (1) repeal current requirements to post signs at school crossing zones regarding the prohibited use of wireless communication devices while operating a motor vehicle; and (2) remove the provision in current law that makes the absence of such a sign an affirmative defense to prosecution.

H.B. 2629 (Branch) – Gifts to Public Servants: would exempt honorariums from the list of political contributions and prohibited gifts that may be given to a public official.

H.B. 2641 (Burnam) – Waiver of Immunity: would subject a person, including a city, to liability for damages if the city deprives a person of any immunities, rights, or privileges provided to the person under state law.

H.B. 2651 (Allen) – Public Transportation: would provide that a public transportation provider that provides services designed for people with disabilities who are unable to use the provider’s bus or rail services shall determine if an individual who resides outside of the provider’s service area and who seeks to use the provider’s services while visiting the provider’s service area is eligible to use the services not later than 48 hours after the individual gives the provider the appropriate notice and submits any required documentation.

H.B. 2653 (V. Taylor) – Retirement Benefits: would allow an employer, including a city, to adopt a pension revocation policy in an employment contract that would revoke an employee’s pension if the employee is finally convicted of a felony or misdemeanor of moral turpitude as specified in the employment contract.

H.B. 2656 (S. Miller) – Private Security: would limit the exemptions for individuals required to comply with the Private Security Act to current peace officers who are currently employed by a law enforcement agency. (The bill is unclear as to whether all officers, or only the heads of law enforcement agencies, retain the exemption.)

H.B. 2661 (Kleinschmidt) – Litigation: would: (1) allow governmental units, including cities, to elect to use settlement procedures in state law, including written settlement offer and acceptance requirements; and (2) if a city elects to use these provisions as a defendant and has a settlement offer rejected, the city could recover litigation costs from a plaintiff if the court judgment is more favorable to the defendant than the settlement offered by the defendant.

H.B. 2663 (Chisum) – LP Gas: would provide that the rules and standards promulgated and adopted by the Railroad Commission preempt and supersede any ordinance, order, or rule adopted by a political subdivision relating to any aspect or phase of the liquefied petroleum gas industry.

H.B. 2665 (P. King) – Plumbing: would transfer the regulatory authority of the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

H.B. 2668 (Miles) – TCEQ Penalties: would increase the range of penalties for statute and rule violations under the jurisdiction of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

H.B. 2669 (Miles) – Urban Farming: would create an advisory committee to study urban farming.

H.B. 2672 (Dutton) – Culverts and Drainage Systems: would, in relation to culverts and other enclosed flood or drainage systems, require a local government entity to: (1) ensure that the system is protected by a bar, grate, or covering; (2) post a sign warning of the hazard for a child; and (3) provide a hinged or similar opening to permit emergency services personnel to access the system.

H.B. 2673 (Dutton) – Tree Mitigation Fees: would provide that, if a city requires as a condition for the approval of a permit that the applicant pay to the city or to a third party a tree mitigation fee to offset the impacts of the activity that the permit will authorize, the amount of the tree mitigation fee shall be roughly proportionate to the impacts of the activity on the public.

H.B. 2675 (Harper-Brown) – Department of Transportation: this is the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) sunset bill. Among many other things, it would:

replace the Texas Transportation Commission with a single appointed commissioner who is appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate for a term of two years that expires February 1 of each odd-numbered year;
require TxDOT to develop a statewide transportation plan covering a period of 24 years and that is updated every four years that contains all modes of transportation;
provide that the plan must contain specific, long-term transportation goals for the state and measurable targets for each goal, identify priority corridors, projects, or areas of the state that are of particular concern in meeting the plan goals, and contain a participation plan specifying methods for obtaining formal input on the plan’s goals and priorities with input from, among others, political subdivisions;
require TxDOT to establish a project information reporting system that makes available in a central location on the Internet easily accessible and searchable information regarding all of TxDOT’s transportation plans;
require TxDOT to develop a process to identify and distinguish between the transportation projects that are required to maintain the state infrastructure and the transportation projects that would improve the state infrastructure in a manner consistent with the statewide transportation plan;
require TxDOT to evaluate and publish a report about the status of each transportation goal for this state and to provide a copy of each district’s report to the political subdivisions located in the district that is the subject of the report;
require TxDOT to develop and implement a policy for public involvement that guides and encourages public involvement with TxDOT;
require TxDOT to develop a unified transportation program covering a period of 10 years and updated each year to guide the development of and authorize construction of transportation projects;
provide that the commission shall develop criteria for major transportation projects, program priority categories, and funding allocation and distribution;
provide that any fines or fees received under the Texas highway Beautification Act go to the state highway fund, as opposed to the state highway beautification account;
create additional administrative procedures, fees, and civil penalties relating to outdoor advertising that is subject to state law;
provide that the combined license and permit fees may not exceed $10 for an off-premise sign erected and maintained by a nonprofit organization in a city or a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction if the sign relates to or promotes only the city or a political subdivision whose jurisdiction is wholly or partly concurrent with the city; and
require TxDOT, in cooperation with local governments, to actively manage a system of changeable message signs located on highways under the jurisdiction of TxDOT to mitigate traffic congestion by providing current information to the traveling public, including information about traffic incidents, weather conditions, road construction, and alternative routes when applicable.

(Companion bill is S.B. 1420 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 2677 (Shelton) – Municipal Electric Utilities: would provide that a school district served by a municipally owned electric utility that has not chosen to participate in customer choice shall, within the certificated retail service area of the utility, have the right of customer choice as if the utility had chosen to participate in customer choice.

H.B. 2679 (T. Smith) – Dangerous Dogs: would: (1) provide for a jury trial for dangerous dog trials in any court; (2) allow an appeal to county court for an animal control authority determination or a municipal court or justice court order regarding a dangerous dog; and (3) require a dog owner who utilizes the appeal process to post a bond in the amount of the cost to house the animal during the appeal.

H.B. 2683 (Lucio) – Collective Bargaining: would: (1) allow a city to negotiate changes to retirement benefits under the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) with employees covered by certain collective bargaining and meet and confer agreements; and (2) require that a change made to the TMRS benefits through certain collective bargaining or meet and confer agreements can only apply to those employees covered by the agreement.

H.B. 2685 (Lucio) – DWI: would: (1) prohibit a city or city officer, employee, or department from adopting a policy that prohibits or impedes the enforcement of driving while intoxicated (DWI) laws; (2) prohibit a city from receiving state grant funds for a certain amount of time if the city adopts a rule, order, ordinance, or policy that prohibits or impedes the enforcement of DWI laws; and (3) authorize the attorney general to take certain legal action against a city that violates (1), above.

H.B. 2686 (Lucio) – Uninsured Motor Vehicle: would: (1) require a peace officer to impound the vehicle of a person who operates a vehicle without insurance and is involved in an accident; (2) require notice of impoundment under (1), above, to the registered owner and lienholder; and (3) provide for the return of the vehicle in (1), above, to the owner or lienholder under certain circumstances or, alternatively, disposition of the vehicle by law enforcement.

H.B. 2687 (Lucio) – County Noise Regulation: would authorize a county to regulate noise in the unincorporated areas of the county.

H.B. 2690 (Deshotel) – Sale of Real Property: would provide that a political subdivision may – without bidding or auctioning – donate or sell for less than fair market value a designated parcel of land or an interest in real property to another political subdivision if: (1) the land or interest will be used by the political subdivision to which it is donated or sold in carrying out a purpose that benefits the public interest of the donating or selling political subdivision; (2) the donation or sale of the land or interest is made under terms that effect and maintain the public purpose for which the donation or sale is made; and (3) the title and right to possession of the land or interest revert to the donating or selling political subdivision if the acquiring political subdivision ceases to use the land or interest in carrying out the public purpose.

H.B. 2693 (Deshotel) – Manufactured Housing: would transfer regulation of manufactured housing from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

H.B. 2694 (W. Smith) – TCEQ: this is the TCEQ sunset bill. The bill would, among other things: (1) require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to develop and implement a policy to encourage the use of negotiated rulemaking and alternative dispute resolution procedures; (2) require the TCEQ to develop and implement a program to improve public access to information about the TCEQ and the matters the agency regulates; (3) make changes to narrow the scope of the mission of the office of public interest council; (4) authorize the TCEQ to consider additional factors when reviewing compliance history; (5) increase the penalties for statute and rule violations under the jurisdiction of the TCEQ, including increasing minimum daily fines; (6) authorize the TCEQ to approve a city’s supplemental environmental project in lieu of a fine that is necessary to bring the city into compliance with environmental laws or remediate environmental harm caused by the city’s alleged violation; (7) require the TCEQ to develop a policy to prevent a regulated entity from systematically avoiding compliance through the use of supplemental environmental projects; (8) make changes to the fees, penalties, and authorized TCEQ action for underground storage tanks; (9) require any water right holder who impounds, diverts, or otherwise uses state water to maintain water use information on a monthly basis to be made available to the TCEQ during an emergency water shortage, upon request; and (10) authorize the TCEQ to order suspension and reallocation of water rights during a drought or other emergency water shortage. (Companion is S.B. 657 by Huffman.)

H.B. 2696 (Eiland) – Property Tax: would provide that a replacement structure for a structure that was rendered uninhabitable or unusable by 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. (Companion bill is S.B. 1205 by Jackson.)

H.B. 2702 (Solomons) – Population Classifications: would update the hundreds of provisions in state law that brackets certain legislation to cities of a certain population. (Companion bill is S.B. 1246 by Eltife.)

H.B. 2707 (Burnam) – Alcoholic Beverage License: would prohibit the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission from issuing or renewing a permit for on-premises consumption to a person with a financial interest in the permit or the premises who, within the three preceding years, held a license or permit that was canceled or not renewed because of a shooting, stabbing, or other violent act or an offense involving drugs, prostitution, or human trafficking.

H.B. 2713 (Thompson) – Loans: would allow refinancing of loans made with disaster recovery funds, including a government loan, if the new loan has a lower interest rate, fees, and points than the refinanced loan. (Companion bill is S.B. 1391 by Gallegos.)

H.B. 2714 (Thompson) – Affordable Housing: would allow a participant in a federal housing tenant-based assistance program to seek judicial review of a decision by a housing authority to terminate the tenant-based assistance. (Companion bill is S.B. 925 by Ellis.)

H.B. 2719 (Harper-Brown) – Sales Tax: would provide that a dealer, distributor, supervisor, or employer may not be regarded as a retailer or seller for sales tax purposes if the entity, directly or indirectly, only maintains, occupies, operates, or uses a fulfillment center or a computer server.

H.B. 2729 (Callegari) – Procurement: would provide that: (1) a city may contract with a private entity to act as the city’s agent in the design, development, financing, maintenance, operation, or construction, including oversight and inspection, of a facility (any improvement to real property) or civil works project; and (2) a city entering into such a contract shall select a private entity on the basis of the entity’s qualifications and experience and enter into a project development agreement with the entity. (Companion bill is S.B. 1654 by Watson.)

H.B. 2731 (Truitt) – Public Retirement Systems: would: (1) prohibit a public retirement system, including the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS), from reducing the rate of member or employer contributions, provide a cost-of-living adjustment, or otherwise increasing retirement benefits, unless the system can show it is funded as required by the bill; (2) limit the calculation of a retirement benefit of a member of a public retirement system, including TMRS, to 125 percent of a period five years from the period that is used to calculate the benefits; (3) allow the pension review board or the attorney general to review complaints against a person who provides management or investment services to a public retirement system, including TMRS and other city systems; (4) require TMRS to receive pension board approval before entering into a contract with an investment managers or other contracts; (5) provide for ethical and conflict of interest requirements for members of the governing body of a public retirement system, including TMRS; and (6) change the way the assets and liabilities of a public retirement system, including TMRS, are made.

H.B. 2732 (Oliveira) – Permit Vesting: would provide that, for purposes of the permit vesting statute, “fair notice” means the minimum amount of information necessary to enable a reasonably prudent person to understand the general nature and objective of a project. (Companion bill is S.B. 1442 by Shapiro.)

H.B. 2733 (Madden) – Animal Control: would expand the drugs an animal control officer or other appropriate official may use to euthanize an animal.

H.B. 2737 (N. Gonzalez) – Public Housing: would: (1) allow a criminal justice agency to disclose certain criminal history record information (CHRI) to a housing authority; (2) provide that a person who employs individuals to work at a residential dwelling project may: (a) obtain from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) the employee’s CHRI; and (b) request the employee to disclose the employee’s CHRI and, with authorization from the employee, verify that information with DPS; and (3) authorize DPS to adopt rules requiring an affidavit from the employer with a statement from the employee authorizing the employer to obtain the CHRI. (Companion bill is S.B. 1553 by Rodriguez.)

H.B. 2738 (N. Gonzalez) – Public Housing: would: (1) allow a criminal justice agency to disclose certain criminal history record information (CHRI) to a housing authority or housing project; and (2) provide that a housing authority is entitled to obtain CHRI from the Department of Public Safety relating to a person who is a tenant, an applicant for housing, or a “covered person.”

H.B. 2746 (Martinez Fischer) – Property Tax: would provide that real property transferred to a charitable organization for the improvement of the property for low-income housing is not subject to an additional tax for the change of the use of the property if the new use of the property would otherwise be exempt from property taxes.

H.B. 2754 (Martinez Fischer) – Legislative Testimony: would require the Texas Legislative Council to provide certain means by which a person can submit electronic testimony regarding a bill or resolution that is pending before a committee or subcommittee of the Senate or House of Representatives.

H.B. 2756 (Lavender) – Carrying of Handguns: would authorize any person who is licensed to openly carry a handgun.

H.B. 2760 (Garza) – Sales Tax: would, among other provisions: (1) authorize a quarter-cent sales tax to be imposed by election to fund species-protection programs in certain parts of the Edwards Aquifer, Guadalupe River Basin, San Antonio River Basin, and San Antonio Bay and estuary system; (2) designate the Edwards, Guadalupe-Blanco, and San Antonio River Authorities as the taxing authorities; and (3) exempt the tax from the two-cent sales tax cap within a city’s limits. (Companion is S.B. 1595 by Wentworth.)

H.B. 2763 (Farrar) – Solid Waste: would prohibit the Department of Public Safety from denying the renewal of a driver’s license because of an underlying offense related to a local solid waste or heavy trash requirement.

H.B. 2774 (Bohac) – Property Tax: would allow the city council of a city in Harris County to reduce the property tax appraisal cap on homesteads from ten percent to five percent.

H.B. 2778 (Bohac) – Water Utility Rates: would require a city that is the regulatory authority for a non-municipally-owned water and sewer utility’s rates or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to set a ratemaking hearing if at least ten percent of the ratepayers living in the same subdivision or zip code submit a complaint about the proposed rate change.

H.B. 2780 (Bohac) – Burglary of a Vehicle: would provide, with regard to the offense of burglary of a vehicle, that: (1) the offense is a state jail felony if the defendant has previously been convicted of that same offense or the vehicle broken into is a rail car; (2) the amount of community service work ordered by the judge may not exceed 600 hours; and (3) provisions providing for the minimum period of community supervision for an offense punishable as a misdemeanor are repealed. (Companion bill is S.B. 203 by Huffman.)

H.B. 2782 (Callegari) – Sales Tax: would exempt certain firearms, hunting equipment, ammunition, and related accessories from sales taxes if the sale takes place over the second weekend in October. (Companion bill is S.B. 1411 by Hegar.)

H.B. 2798 (Bonnen) – Electric Discounts: would, among other things, provide that a municipally owned electric utility shall discount charges for electric service provided to a school district that is a 20-percent reduction of the utility’s base rates.

H.B. 2803 (Raymond) – Colonias: would: (1) provide that the secretary of state shall establish and maintain a statewide system for identifying colonias that must include a method for a city or county to nominate an area for identification as a colonia and may provide for the review of a nominated area by the Texas Water Development Board, the office of the attorney general, or any other appropriate state agency as determined by the secretary of state; (2) to augment regulatory compliance by political subdivisions, provide that the model subdivision rules may impose requirements for platting, replatting, or any other method authorized by law; (3) notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a political subdivision that has adopted the model rules may impose the platting requirements of Local Government Code Chapter 212 (city platting authority) or 232 (county platting authority) to a division of real property that is required to be platted or replatted by the provisions of the model rules; and (4) before an application for certain funding may be considered by the Water Development Board, if the applicant is located: (a) in a city, the city must adopt and enforce the model subdivision rules; (b) in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, the applicant must demonstrate that the model subdivision rules have been adopted and are enforced in the extraterritorial jurisdiction by either the city or the county; or (c) outside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, the county must adopt and enforce the model subdivision rules. (Companion bill is S.B. 1816 by Zaffirini.)

H.B. 2810 (S. Miller) – Sales Tax: would exempt from sales taxes tangible personal property incorporated into a commercial dairy-free stall barn, commercial dairy structures, or commodity structures used to process feed for dairy cows.

H.B. 2811 (Coleman) – Drugs: would allow a city or county to prohibit the sale of any abusable drug or chemical so long as the drug is not approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

H.B. 2813 (Christian) – Sales Tax: would require the comptroller to provide notice to a person who the comptroller considers to be a retailer or seller for sales tax purposes.

H.B. 2815 (L. Taylor) – Prop 2: would exempt from property taxes an energy storage system or technology used as a facility, device, or method for the control of air pollution.

H.B. 2817 (L. Taylor) – Elections: would, among other things: (1) eliminate the current provision in state law that requires the secretary of state to either prescribe the terms that a county elections administrator must accept, or instruct the county elections administrator to decline to enter into a contract with a city, if a city and county are unable to initially reach an agreement to furnish election services; (2) provide that an election watcher may not be accepted for service if the watcher has possession of a device capable of recording images or sound unless the watcher agrees to disable or deactivate the device; (3) provide that the custodian of keys to early voting ballot boxes must retain possession of the keys until delivered to the presiding judge of the central counting station; (4) require that a plan for counting votes cast on an electronic voting system include a process for comparing the number of voters who signed the combination form with the number of votes cast for the entire election; (5) require a city to post notice of dates of the filing period for an application for a place on the ballot not later than the 30th day before: (a) the first day on which a candidate may file an application; or (b) the last day on which a candidate may file the application, if the election code does not designate a first day on which the candidate may file the application: (6) provide that a withdrawal from an election that is not made in writing and signed by the candidate, or is not timely filed with the appropriate authority or agent of an authority, has no legal effect and is not considered filed; and (7) require a notice relating to a local option liquor election that is published in a newspaper to include: (a) the individual or entity that is applying for the petition to gather signatures for a local option liquor election; (b) the type of local option liquor election; (c) the name of the political subdivision in which the petition will be circulated; and (d) the name and title of the person with whom the application will be filed. (Companion bill is S.B. 849 by Duncan.)

H.B. 2823 (Coleman) – Peace Officer Training: would require a peace officer to complete eight hours of training on ethical decision making every two years. (Companion bill is S.B. 1676 by Ellis.)

H.B. 2826 (Murphy) – Municipal Setting Designations: would, among other provisions: (1) require a city with a population of more than two million to give notice and 120 days to pass a resolution in opposition to a municipal settings designation (MSD) to any city or public utility within a certain distance from the proposed MSD; and (2) require that no resolution has been filed in opposition for the MSD to be issued.

H.B. 2833 (White) – Working Dogs: would exempt working dogs, including those used for police, therapy, or livestock handling, from any ordinance or law regulating: (1) spaying or neutering; (2) number of pets in households; (3) housing of dogs; (4) insurance requirements; or (5) breed restrictions.

H.B. 2849 (Simpson) – Mineral Estates: would grant considerable new rights to an owner of the surface estate in land in connection with mineral exploration and production operations on the land.

H.B. 2850 (Mallory Caraway) – Law Enforcement Vehicles: would prohibit a city from selling or transferring a marked patrol car or other law enforcement vehicle to the public unless the city first removes any equipment or insignia that could mislead a reasonable person into believing the vehicle is a law enforcement vehicle.

H.B. 2852 (Mallory Carraway) – Red Light Cameras: would provide that: (1) a city shall install a sign at each intersection at which a photographic traffic monitoring system is in active use and at which turning right is permissible; and (2) the sign must indicate the location at which the operator of the vehicle must stop the vehicle when facing a steady red signal.

H.B. 2853 (J. Davis) – Tax Increment Financing: among other things, would: (1) repeal the requirement that a city adopting a reinvestment zone financing plan mail a copy of the plan to the governing body of each taxing unit that levies taxes in the proposed zone; (2) allow a city to designate a reinvestment zone so long as: (a) less than 30 percent of the property in the proposed zone is used for residential purposes; or (b) the total appraised value of taxable real property in the proposed zone and in existing zones is less than 25 percent of the total appraised value for a city with a population of 100,000 or more, or 50 percent of the total appraised value for a city with a population of less than 100,000; (3) allow a city council that designated a reinvestment zone by ordinance or resolution to adopt an ordinance or resolution extending the term of all or a portion of the zone after notice and a hearing; (4) authorize a city council to appoint a reinvestment board of directors consisting of nine members if fewer than seven taxing units other than the city are eligible to appoint members of the board of directors; (5) provide that if at least seven taxing units other than the city are eligible to appoint members of the reinvestment zone’s board of directors, then the city creating the zone may appoint only one member; (6) allow an agreement to specify the projects to which a participating taxing unit’s tax increment will be dedicated and that the taxing unit’s participation may be computed with respect to a base year later than the original base year of the zone; and (7) provide that an act or proceeding of a city, a reinvestment zone board, or other entity acting pursuant to a reinvestment zone financing plan is conclusively presumed valid after two years have passed and a lawsuit to annul or invalidate the act or proceeding has not been filed.

H.B. 2856 (Gallego) – Felony Forfeiture: would: (1) prohibit prosecutors from executing a plea bargain agreement that would waive a person’s interest in property seized under the felony forfeiture laws; (2) provide that post-judgment interest on money seized under the felony forfeiture laws shall be used for the same purposes as the principal; (3) prohibit the use of felony forfeiture funds for: (a) political campaigns; (b) donations to certain organizations that do not assist in the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime or provide rehabilitation services; (c) judicial training; (d) certain travel expenses; (e) alcoholic beverages; (f) any expenditure not approved by the city council if the law enforcement agency head holds elective office and is not running for reelection or did not prevail in a reelection bid; or (g) a salary, expense, or allowance increase for an employee of the law enforcement agency that was not approved by the city council; (3) require more detailed local audits of the expenditure of felony forfeiture funds; (4) permit the state auditor to investigate at any time the expenditure of felony forfeiture funds; (5) permit the attorney general to sue a law enforcement agency or prosecutor who misuses felony forfeiture funds; and (6) permit up to a $100,000 civil fine for misuse of felony forfeiture funds. (Companion bill is S.B. 316 by Whitmire.)

H.B. 2860 (Y. Davis) – Public Improvement Districts: would provide that: (1) a city may establish a public improvement district in noncontiguous areas if the areas share a common characteristic or use; (2) a petition for the establishment of a public improvement district must state the proposed assessment schedule, the appraised value of taxable real property that is liable for assessment, and an estimate of property value appreciation for real property in the district for the period after the district is created and before the deferred assessment will be assessed; (3) if a proposed assessment schedule in a petition includes a deferred assessment, a city council must use the services of city employees before the hearing to estimate the appraised value of taxable real property liable for assessment in the district and the cost of improvement; and (4) the cost of an improvement may be assessed as a percentage of sales or receipts, or as a percentage of increased property value attributable to the improvement.

H.B. 2866 (Harper-Brown) – Public Information: would: (1) allow open records letter ruling requests to be filed electronically with the attorney general’s office; and (2) allow notices, decisions, and other public information documents to be transmitted electronically by the attorney general’s office. (Companion bill is S.B. 933 by Ellis).

H.B. 2871 (Aliseda) – Tire Disposal: would require a person who sells new or used motor vehicle tires to collect at the time of sale a tire disposal fee to be used only for the purpose of properly disposing of or recycling used or scrap tires.

H.B. 2874 (Geren) – Telecommunications: would provide that: (1) a city may not by rule, order, or other means directly or indirectly regulate rates charged for, service or contract terms for, conditions for, or requirements for entry into the market for Voice over Internet Protocol services or other Internet Protocol enabled services; and (2) the limitation in (1) does not: (a) affect payment of municipal right-of-way fees applicable to Voice over Internet Protocol services; (b) affect any person’s obligation to provide video service as defined by S.B. 5 (2005)(the state video franchise bill) under any applicable state or federal law; or (c) require or prohibit assessment of enhanced 9-1-1, relay access service, or universal service fund fees on Voice over Internet Protocol service. (Companion bill is S.B. 985 by Carona.)

H.B. 2875 (S. Davis) – Elections: would: (1) provide that a voter who presents a voter registration certificate indicating that the voter is registered in a different precinct in the same county in the precinct in which the voter is offering to vote, or a voter who does not present a voter registration certificate, shall be accepted for provisional voting only if the voter executes an affidavit; (2) require an election officer to enter the voter’s registration number beside the voter’s name on the poll list, if applicable; (3) require an election officer to indicate beside the voter’s name on the poll list that the voter was accepted for provisional voting and enter the voter’s address; and (4) require a copy of the poll list to be included in Envelope No. 4.

H.B. 2878 (Berman) – Immigration: would: (1) make a person liable to the state for actual damages for employing or contracting with an unauthorized alien; (2) authorize a private individual to sue on behalf of the State of Texas for a violation of (1), above (a “qui tam lawsuit”); (3) identify as contraband and require forfeiture of certain property in relation to certain criminal offenses involving unauthorized aliens; (4) create the felony offense of criminal trespass by an unauthorized alien; and (5) create the felony offense of employing or contracting with an unauthorized alien.

H.B. 2879 (P. King) – Texas Historical Commission: would abolish the Texas Historical Commission and transfer its duties to the Parks and Wildlife Commission, the General Land Office, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

H.B. 2885 (Workman) – Liquid Propane Tanks: would prohibit a city from enacting or enforcing an ordinance that prohibits, restricts, or has the effect of prohibiting or restricting a property owner from installing a liquid propane gas tank of a reasonable size to service the property above ground on residential property, except that a city may require the owner to screen the tank from view with reasonable screening materials.

H.B. 2886 (Workman) – Immigration: would: (1) create a resident alien card program for undocumented immigrants; (2) require an employer, including a city, who employs someone with a resident alien card to: (a) deduct a state tax equal to the federal income tax from the individual’s wages; and (b) provide the same benefits to the individual as other employees; (3) give an employer, including a city, an affirmative defense from federal prosecution for hiring an undocumented immigrant if the employee has a resident alien card; (4) require a city to give preference to a lawful resident over a resident alien card holder; (5) create a fine of $10,000 for hiring an undocumented immigrant who does not have a resident alien card; and (6) give the taxes collected to local governments, including cities, which provide services to resident aliens.

H.B. 2888 (Munoz) – Certificates of Convenience and Necessity (CCNs): would: (1) expand the situations in which a landowner would be able to petition the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for release from a CCN; (2) remove a landowner in a platted subdivision receiving water or sewer service from a rural water supply corporation that has federal debt from the group of landowners entitled to contest an involuntary certification of property; and (3) authorize a landowner whose property is within city limits and is receiving water or sewer service from a rural water supply corporation that has federal debt and has refused or is not capable of providing service in the same manner that the city would be required to if it held the certificate to the property to petition for expedited release from a CCN.

H.B. 2889 (Madden) – Expunction of Arrest Records: would require a police department to expunge all records of the arrest of a person when the office of the attorney who is authorized to prosecute the offense for which the person was arrested declines to prosecute and does not object to the court entering an order of expunction. (Companion is S.B. 1473 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 2891 (Sheets) – Elections: would require the early voting clerk to include a disposable fingerprint inked strip and instructions for use with balloting materials that are mailed to a voter.

H.B. 2895 (D. Miller) – Water Ratemaking: would: (1) authorize a city council that is the regulatory authority for water rates for a non-city-owned utility within city limits to authorize reduced rates for a minimal level of service to be provided to a class or classes of low-income or elderly customers; and (2) require a city acting as a regulatory authority for water rates to allow the utility in question to choose whether to have a forward-looking or historical test year used as part of the calculation of the utility’s expenses during a ratemaking determination.

H.B. 2896 (T. King) – Peace Officer: would require a peace officer to remain at the location of a damaged fence if: (1) the officer responds to a car accident that damages the fence; and (2) the officer believes that the fenced area contains livestock.

H.B. 2897 (Naishtat) – Driver Education Courses: would: (1) create requirements for a driver education course specifically for individuals under twenty-five years of age; and (2) require that a driver under the age of twenty-five who commits a moving violation and receives a deferred adjudication or deferred disposition complete a driver education course for drivers under the age of twenty-five. (Companion is S.B. 1330 by Watson.)

H.B. 2901 (D. Miller) – Property Tax: would provide that a transferee holding a tax lien assumes the lien priority of the taxing unit for funds advanced to pay taxes, penalties, interest, and collection costs.

H.B. 2920 (Reynolds) – Elections: would provide that the city council of a type C general law city with a population of over 10,000 may adopt an ordinance to determine if commissioners may be elected in alternate years or in the same election year.

H.B. 2925 (Farias) – Consumer Credit: would require a creditor that extends consumer credit to certain members of the United States armed forces or a member of the Texas National Guard and their dependents give those persons the same benefits and protections that the creditor is required to apply to persons covered under the federal John Warner National Defense Authorization Act.

H.B. 2927 (Farias) – Property Tax: would: (1) provide that, for a property that qualifies for a residence homestead exemption that was acquired by a property owner as a bona fide purchaser in the preceding year, the appraised value of the property for the first tax year may not exceed the lesser of: (a) the market value of the property; (b) the appraised value of the property; or (c) an amount equal to the sum of the purchase price paid by the owner and the market value of all new improvements to the property; (2) limit re-appraisals of residential homesteads to no more often than once every three years; and (3) prevent taxable value increases in years in which homesteads are not re-appraised.

H.B. 2934 (Castro) – Texas Municipal Retirement System: would give the members of the Texas Municipal Retirement System another option when calculating possible increases in annuities or supplemental benefits given to retirees and beneficiaries of deceased retirees. (Companion bill is S.B. 1164 by Wentworth).

H.B. 2943 (Coleman) – Debt Instruments: would require a city to report all proposed bond initiatives and debt to the Bond Review Board, but only if the legislature appropriates state money for the payment or reimbursement of costs incurred by the city in complying with the mandate.

H.B. 2944 (Coleman) – Debt Instruments: would require the Bond Review Board to establish on its Web site a database of outstanding bonds and other debt obligations issued by each local government.

H.B. 2946 (Coleman) – Mandatory Health Benefit: would require coverage for care and treatment of loss of language or impairment of speech.

H.B. 2949 (Cook) – Municipal Court: would repeal the penalty prohibiting a city from withholding its ten percent of many state court fines if the city is not in compliance with state fee reporting and remitting rules.

H.B. 2952 (Cain) – Property Tax: would provide that a city council may not adopt a budget that exceeds the revenue adopted in the previous year by the lesser of: (1) the growth in the state’s gross state product; or (2) population growth in the local government plus inflation. The bill would allow the voters in a city to nullify a limitation on the growth of the budget as provided by the bill if a majority of the voters in the city vote in a referendum election in favor of nullification.

H.B. 2957 (J. Davis) – Law Enforcement: would adopt the Law Enforcement Officers’ Due Process Act, which includes provisions that: (1) limit the way in which a city may conduct a disciplinary investigation or question an officer; (2) limit the times and places that a peace officer may be questioned; (3) give the right to counsel to a peace officer under investigation or questioning; (4) give the right to access to documents related to the investigation to peace officers; (5) require the employing city to give a notice of investigation or questioning within a specific period of time; (6) provide for hearing procedures for peace officer investigations and the resulting employment action; (7) require a written or taped record of any proceedings; and (7) prohibit peace officers from engaging in political activity while the officer is on duty, in uniform, or acting in an official capacity.

H.B. 2958 (Paxton) – Property Tax: would provide that: (1) if changes in the items subject to sales tax would result in an average increase in the amount of sales tax revenue received by a city, the effective tax rate and rollback tax rate of a city that also imposes a sales tax are reduced by a rate that would impose an amount of taxes equal to the amount of revenue gained because of the changes; and (2) if changes in the items subject to sales tax would result in an average decrease in the amount of sales tax revenue received by a city, the effective tax rate and rollback tax rate of a city that also imposes a sales tax are increased by a rate that would impose an amount of taxes equal to the amount of revenue lost because of the changes.

H.B. 2961 (Darby) – Solar Energy: would apply to a municipally owned electric utility (MOU) with retail sales of more than 500,000 megawatt hours in 2009 and provide – among many other things – that, beginning not later than March 1, 2012, an MOU shall annually report to the Public Utility Commission information regarding the efforts of the MOU with regard to its efforts to promote solar energy generation incentive programs goals.

H.B. 2962 (Bohac) – Certificates of Convenience and Necessity: would (1) create a process allowing sixty percent of the customers in a geographic area to file a petition with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to be released from a certificated area; and (2) make the decision final, unappealable, and not subject to judicial review.

H.B. 2966 (Naishtat) – Public Information: would make confidential any communication or record that contains identifying information regarding a person who receives a forensic medical examination that is created by, provided to, or in the control of the Department of Public Safety in reference to certain sexual assault survivors.

H.B. 2972 (T. Smith) – Street Maintenance Sales Tax: would: (1) allow a city that has already held two reauthorization elections in which at least 66 percent of the voters in the last two consecutive elections approved of the tax to call an election to reauthorize the tax for eight years; and (2) allow revenue from the street maintenance sales tax to be used to maintain and repair sidewalks.

H.B. 2973 (Hunter) – Litigation: would: (1) provide for the dismissal of a lawsuit if shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the legal action is based on, relates to, or is in response to the exercise of the defendant’s right of free speech, right to petition, or right of association; (2) prohibit dismissal as described in (1), above, if the party bringing the action establishes by clear and specific evidence a prima facie case for each essential element of the claim; (3) require a court, if dismissal is ordered as described in (1), above, to award court costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses, and impose sanctions against the person and attorney who brought the legal action; (4) require a court, if a motion under (1), above, is found to be frivolous, to award court costs and attorney’s fees to the responding party; and (5) exempt from the application of this bill: (a) an enforcement action brought by a city; and (b) certain legal action brought against a person who sells or leases goods or services. (Companion bill is S.B. 1565 by Ellis.)

H.B. 2974 (Hunter) – Litigation: would: (1) allow a party to a lawsuit to file a motion to dismiss if the lawsuit relates to the party’s exercise of the right of free speech, right to petition, or right of association; and (2) award attorney’s fees and expenses to the party if the lawsuit is dismissed based on the motion.

H.B. 2977 (Hunter) – Open Meetings: would provide that a member or group of members of a governmental body commits an offense if the member or group of members knowingly: (1) conspires to circumvent the Open Meetings Act by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for the purpose of secret deliberations in violation of the Act; or (2) transmits an electronic communication during a public meeting. The bill defines an “electronic communication” as an e-mail, text message, instant message, or posting on an Internet Web site, and does not apply to an electronic communication that contains only administrative or ministerial information or that is sent in relation to an emergency situation.

H.B. 2980 (Hunter) – Public Information: would require a court to consider, when assessing costs of litigation and reasonable attorney’s fees for a suit brought by a governmental body seeking declaratory relief from an open records letter ruling issued by the attorney general, whether the conduct of the governmental body had a reasonable basis in law or whether the litigation was brought in good faith.

H.B. 2981 (Hunter) – Traffic Safety: would provide that, with some exceptions, a person commits an offense if the person operates a motor vehicle on a highway or street and another person occupies a boat or personal watercraft being drawn by the motor vehicle.

H.B. 2986 (Parker) – Union Political Expenditures: would: (1) require a union to: (a) segregate any funds to be used for political expenditures, including expenditures for lobbying, political advertising, and other political activities; (b) ensure that any contribution to a political fund is voluntary; (c) ensure that no union dues are used for political expenditures; and (d) maintain records showing that the union has not engaged in any prohibited practices; (2) prohibit a public employer, including a city, from deducting from wages any amount for certain political expenditures including for a union fund created for political expenditures; and (3) allow a public employer, including a city, to deduct from wages for certain political expenditures if the employer receives written authorization with specific language.

H.B. 2989 (Deshotel) – Construction Employees: would: (1) require any person who contracts for construction services, including a city, to ensure that each individual is classified correctly as either an employee or an independent contractor; (2) provide an administrative penalty if an individual is incorrectly classified; (3) require a contract between a city and a construction contractor to include an affidavit that each individual performing services under the construction contract has been correctly classified as either an employee or independent contractor; and (4) allow a city to rescind a contract if the city finds that the contractor has incorrectly classified its workers.

H.B. 2994 (Miles) – Urban Farming: would provide for the creation, operation, and funding of the urban farm microenterprise support program by the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority.

H.B. 2995 (Miles) – Wastewater Fees: would prohibit a city-owned water or sewer utility from receiving compensation for wastewater service provided to an owner or operator of an urban farm when the wastewater is used for farming purposes.

H.B. 2996 (Miles) – Urban Farming: would provide for the creation of the Texas Urban Agricultural Innovation Authority and, among other things, implement an urban farmer interest rate reduction program and an urban farmer grant program for certain individuals in cities with a population of at least 1.5 million.

H.B. 2997 (Miles) – Urban Farming: would require the Texas Department of Agriculture to establish the urban farming pilot program and would create the Select Committee on Urban Farming to study the program, urban farming trends, and various related topics.

H.B. 2998 (Miles) – Property Tax: would require the Department of Agriculture to develop standards for determining whether: (1) an urban farm qualifies for a property tax appraisal as open-space land; (2) an urban farm or green roof qualifies for a property tax credit; or (3) an urban farm or green roof qualifies for an abatement of property taxes.

H.B. 3001 (Thompson) – Sex Offenders: would, among several other provisions: (1) require a city police department designated as the primary registration authority for certain sex offenders to use a required monitoring system to verify the authenticity of any geographically verifiable information contained in the offender’s registration form; and (2) require the manufacturer or vendor of a monitoring system to provide training to a city police department on the equipment.

H.B. 3012 (Giddings) – Sales Tax: would exempt certain school art supplies from sales tax during limited periods of time.

H.B. 3014 (Oliveira) – Hotel Occupancy Tax: would provide that local hotel occupancy taxes do not apply to an individual who has the right to use or possess a room in a hotel for at least thirty consecutive days, so long as there is no interruption of payment during that period of time.

H.B. 3019 (Gutierrez) – Elections: would require an election officer to provide a paper ballot to a voter who requests one.

H.B. 3020 (Gutierrez) – Personnel: would: (1) require a city who has a contract for construction services to include in a contract with a contractor to: (a) provide at least a 15-minute rest break for every four hours of work its employees perform; and (b) ensure that employees do not work more than three-and-a-half hours without receiving a break; (2) require a city to develop procedures for administering the bill’s provisions; and (3) allow a city to impose an administrative penalty if a contractor violates these provisions. (Companion bill is S.B. 1765 by Rodriguez.)

H.B. 3034 (McClendon) – Warrants: would authorize any magistrate to issue: (1) search and seizure warrants; and (2) warrants for contraband subject to forfeiture.

H.B. 3036 (Alvarado) – Street Maintenance Sales Tax: would authorize a city to hold an election to reauthorize the street maintenance sales tax for a ten-year period.

H.B. 3039 (Chisum) – Property Tax: would exempt from property taxes real property used to provide housing to certain persons with disabilities.

H.B. 3046 (Lucio) – Law Enforcement: would require a city police department to: (1) follow a plan and procedure enacted by the county commissioners court to monitor the retention, preservation, and disposition of physical evidence seized in a criminal investigation; and (2) allow the county commissioners court or its appointee to perform inspections as necessary to ensure compliance with the procedures enacted by the county.

H.B. 3050 (Lucio) – Forfeiture: would: (1) require a law enforcement agency that seizes or helps seize property identified as or alleged to be contraband to follow the forfeiture procedures in Code of Criminal Procedure Article 59.03 or obtain written consent of the attorney representing the state before submitting the property to a forfeiture proceeding provided by another law; (2) require an agency that violates (1), above, to forfeit its claim to any proceeds; (3) provide that the attorney representing the state must enforce (2), above, by filing necessary legal proceedings.

H.B. 3054 (Pena) – Political Advertising: would: (1) prohibit a person from knowingly causing to be posted on an in Internet Web site political advertising that does not explain that it is political advertising and to include information about who paid for or authorized the advertising; and (2) provide when a payment for posting on an Internet website is considered payment for political advertising and when such payment must be reported as an expenditure.

H.B. 3055 (Pena) – Elections: would make it a state jail felony for anyone to knowingly provide false information on an application for an early voting ballot.

H.B. 3056 (Pena) – Elections: would expand the definition of contraband to include any property involved in the commission of certain election offenses.

H.B. 3064 (P. King) – Disabled Parking Placards: would: (1) impose various requirements to prevent the fraudulent issuance and use of disabled parking placards; (2) require the owners of a building or facility used by the public that is constructed, renovated, or modified, in whole or in part, on or after January 1, 1970, using funds from the state, county, or city to: (a) designate a person to inspect disabled parking placards of each person who parks a vehicle in parking space designated for disabled persons to ensure the placard is for the person operating the vehicle or a person being transported in the vehicle; and (b) limit the use of any van accessible parking spaces to a person who must use a wheelchair, unless no other parking space designated specifically for persons with disabilities are available.

H.B. 3066 (Burnam) – Oil and Gas Drilling: would include a structure, device, item, equipment, enclosure, or appurtenance associated with an oil or gas well in the definition of “facility” under the Texas Clean Air Act.

H.B. 3072 (Veasey) – Elections: would require a poll watcher to present a form of photo identification along with the certificate of appointment to the early voting clerk or deputy clerk at a polling place.

H.B. 3082 (Isaac) – Elections: would, for early voting in an city election that includes a bond proposition in a county with a population of more than one million: (1) require any mobile voting station used in early voting to not change locations during a single day within the early voting period; and (2) require the station to move around the territory covered by the election in order to allow all of the voters in the territory the same access to the mobile voting station during the early voting period.

H.B. 3090 (Creighton) – Drinking Water Audits: would: (1) require a city water utility that provides drinking water to perform and file with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) a water audit computing the utility’s system water loss during the preceding year; and (2) require a similar audit from a city water utility that provides drinking water to a population of 3,300 or fewer and that does not receive any form of financial assistance from the TWDB to perform and file with the TWDB once every five years a water audit computing the utility’s most recent annual system water loss.

H.B. 3092 (Rodriguez) – Local Option Transportation Funding: would authorize Travis County to utilize various local funding mechanisms to fund specific local projects if approved at an election in the county.

H.B. 3093 (Lewis) – Elections: would provide that: (1) a person who files a semiannual report of political contributions and expenditures may amend the report; (2) a semiannual report that is amended before the eighth day after the date the original report was filed is considered to have been filed on the date on which the original was filed; and (3) a semiannual report that is amended on or after the eighth day after the original report was filed is considered to have been filed on the date on which the original was filed if: (a) the amendment is made before a complaint is filed regarding the subject of the amendment; and (b) the original report was made in good faith without the intent to mislead.

H.B. 3095 (Farias) – Graffiti: would require a municipal court to require a juvenile repeat graffiti offender who made markings on public property to, with the juvenile’s parent or guardian, restore the public property by removing or painting over any marks made by the child, with the consent of the governmental entity.

H.B. 3103 (Anchia) – 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. (Companion is S.B. 1283 by Watson.)

H.B. 3104 (Simpson) – Sales Tax: would exempt from sales taxes the sale of any gold, silver, or numismatic coins, or platinum, gold, or silver bullion.

H.B. 3105 (Keffer) – Regulatory Takings/Oil and Gas: would make a city regulation that damages, destroys, impairs, or prohibits development of a mineral interest 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.

H.B. 3106 (Keffer) – 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. (Companion bill is S.B. 655 by Hegar.)

H.B. 3108 (Deshotel) – Ambulance Service: would require the Health and Human Services Commission to ensure that any ambulance service provided to a Medicaid managed care plan beneficiary is paid for regardless of whether the ambulance provider is in the plan’s network.

H.B. 3114 (V. Gonzales) – County Development Authority: would authorize certain border counties to regulate development in the unincorporated areas of the county and authorize a city in those counties to regulate development in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. (Companion bill is S.B. 1363 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3115 (V. Gonzales) – Colonias: would authorize certain border counties to regulate development in the unincorporated areas of the county and authorize a city in those counties to regulate development in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. (Companion bill is S.B. 1364 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3120 (Thompson) – Sales Tax: would provide that: (1) neither a religious, educational, or public service organization, nor an individual acting on behalf of the organization, is considered to be a salesman, representative, peddler, or canvasser for sales tax purposes; and (2) a religious, educational, or public service organization that holds an authorized tax-free sale or auction is the seller of a taxable item if the organization purchased the item as evidenced by a contract, purchase order, invoice, receipt, or other similar document.

H.B. 3126 (Naishtat) – Electricity: would provide, among other things, that the Public Utility Commission by rule shall require an electric utility, municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, qualifying facility, power generation company, exempt wholesale generator, or power marketer to give to the following the same priority that it gives to a hospital in its emergency operations plan for restoring power after an extended power outage: (1) a nursing facility; (2) an assisted living facility; and (3) a facility that provides hospice services. (Companion bill is S.B. 937 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3129 (Price) – E-verify: would: (1) require an employer, including a city, to enroll in and use E-verify to verify immigration information about new employees; and (2) provide an administrative penalty for failure to use E-verify.

H.B. 3133 (Rodriguez) – Property Tax: would: (1) provide that property transferred by an organization that received a property tax exemption as an organization constructing or rehabilitating low-income housing to a charitable organization may not be exempted as property of the charitable organization after the fifth anniversary of the date the transferring organization acquired the property; (2) require the chief appraiser to take into account how any limitations and/or resale restrictions on property sold to a low-income individual or family reduce the overall market value of the property; and (3) a change in the use of property transferred to a charitable organization to improve for low-income housing does not result in an additional tax as otherwise provided by the Tax Code.

H.B. 3138 (Hardcastle) – Property Tax: would allow a dealer of heavy equipment to apply to the chief appraiser to have the dealer’s heavy equipment inventory appraised for property tax purposes in a similar way as other types of inventory.

H.B. 3142 (Pickett) – Utility Payments: would provide that a municipally owned electric or gas utility or a third party acting on the utility’s behalf may not charge a fee for credit card, debit card, or automated bank draft payment conducted through the Internet for reoccurring charges.

H.B. 3147 (McClendon) – Evidence of Sexual Assault: would: (1) require a law enforcement agency that receives sexual assault evidence to submit that evidence to an accredited crime lab for analysis not later than the tenth day after the date on which the evidence is received; (2) require a law enforcement department that handles sexual assault evidence to maintain the chain of custody from the time of collection until the time the evidence is destroyed; and (3) require a law enforcement agency in possession of sexual assault evidence that has not been submitted for lab analysis to: (a) not later than October 15, 2011, submit to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) a list of active criminal cases for which sexual assault evidence has not been submitted for lab analysis; and (b) not later than April 1, 2012, submit to DPS all sexual assault evidence pertaining to those active cases that have not been submitted for lab analysis.

H.B. 3158 (V. Taylor) – Elections: would require the general custodian of election records to adopt procedures for testing direct recording electronic voting machine systems to verify that each contested position, as well as each precinct and ballot style, on the ballot can be voted and is accurately counted. (Companion bill is S.B. 1398 by Patrick.)

H.B. 3160 (V. Taylor) – Elections: would require an individual to verify citizenship in order to become a registered voter.

H.B. 3166 (Callegari) – State Agencies: would abolish and consolidate various state agencies and function, including, among others: (1) transferring the regulatory functions of the Texas Board of Plumbing Examiners to the Department of Licensing and Regulation; and (2) consolidating 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. 3170 (Coleman) -- Historic Site Tax Exemption: would: (1) require notice to a historic site 30 days before any action by a taxing unit, including a city, on a tax exemption related to the historic site; and (2) void any action taken by a taxing unit if action is taken without the required notice.

H.B. 3181 (Johnson) – Expunction: would expand the circumstances under which a person may request expunction of all records of an arrest.

H.B. 3182 (Ritter) – Sales Tax: would provide that manufactured homes used as an oilfield portable unit are subject to sales taxes.

H.B. 3186 (Paxton) – Property Tax: would provide that a city council may not adopt a tax rate that exceeds the rollback tax rate without first receiving voter approval.

H.B. 3187 (Dutton) – Matters Affecting Cities: would provide that: (1) a city shall complete its plan annexation inventory and make it available for public inspection on or before the 90th day after the date the city receives the required information from the service providers; (2) the provisions that allow a referendum on time warrants issued by a city of more than 50,000 population apply if the time warrants exceed $150,000; (3) a city imposing an impact fee shall update the land use assumptions and capital improvements plan at least every three years; (4) in a city that creates a parking authority, a petition protesting the creation must be signed by a number of registered voters equal to at least 15 percent of the number of votes cast at the most recent general municipal election.

H.B. 3188 (Larson) – Air Quality: would prohibit a state agency from implementing or adopting rules that would implement a greenhouse gas emissions regulatory program required by federal statute or agency rule.

H.B. 3190 (Oliveira) – County Development Authority/Municipal Building Codes: would authorize counties to regulate development and impose building codes in certain circumstances in the unincorporated areas of the county and authorize a city in those counties to regulate development and impose building codes in certain circumstances in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. (Companion bill is S.B. 1392 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3200 (Y. Davis) – Electric Reregulation: would, among other things: (1) grant to the Texas Public Utility Commission (Commission) all necessary jurisdiction to take any action necessary to effectuate the reregulation of retail electric service in an area in which customer choice was introduced before January 1, 2012; (2) require the Commission to develop by rule an integrated resource planning process to provide reliable energy service at the lowest reasonable system cost; and (3) provide that the Commission may review the state’s transmission system and make recommendations to electric utilities on the need to build new power lines, upgrade power lines, and make other necessary improvements and additions.

H.B. 3201 (Y. Davis) – Property Tax: would require the Sunset Commission to evaluate each property tax exemption provided by state statute at least once every six years and make recommendations for retaining, repealing, or amending each exemption.

H.B. 3209 (Harless) – Computer Recycling: would create a penalty for the owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill or incinerator who intentionally or knowingly accepts for disposal or incineration used computer equipment that is eligible for collection under a manufacturer’s recovery plan.

H.B. 3213 (Burnam) – Electric Aggregation: would provide that an electric aggregator may not charge a residential customer a fee for consuming less than a minimum electricity consumption amount set by the aggregator.

H.B. 3215 (Button) – Economic Development: would prohibit a type A or type B economic development corporation from using revenue for the purpose of recruiting or relocating to the corporation’s authorizing city a business located in a city in the same or an adjacent county as the authorizing city.

H.B. 3216 (Otto) – Property Tax: would allow any notice, rendition, application form, or completed application to be delivered in electronic format between a chief appraiser, an appraisal district, or an appraisal review board and a property owner or person designated by a property owner.

H.B. 3218 (Philips) – State Infrastructure Bank: would make various changes to the administration, financing, and use of the State Infrastructure Bank, which provides loans to public entities, including cities, to construct, maintain, or finance certain transportation projects. Of particular interest to cities, the bill would provide that a public entity receiving financial assistance waives sovereign immunity to suit for the purpose of adjudicating a claim for breach of the terms of the financial assistance agreement. (Companion bill is S.B. 1395 by Williams.)

H.B. 3219 (Thompson) – Criminal Information: would require a law enforcement agency that collects, maintains, or discloses intelligence data to: (1) follow extensive procedures when collecting, maintaining, or disseminating information about individuals and criminal activity; (2) send an annual report about this information and its use to the criminal justice committees of the house and the senate; and (3) be subject to attorney general oversight.

H.B. 3223 (Hernandez Luna) – Elections: would provide that: (1) if an election judge cannot practically direct any voters waiting to enter the polling place at closing time to vote while closing the poll to others, the election judge shall compile a list of the names of each voter in line at the time of closing and only permit entry to a person on the list; and (2) the presiding election judge at a polling place must make an announcement at 6:45 p.m. to voters waiting to enter the polling place that the time for closing the polls is in 15 minutes.

H.B. 3224 (Hernandez Luna) – Elections: would provide that an applicant’s voter registration is effective on election day if: (1) the applicant’s registration application is approved; (2) the applicant submitted the application not later than the 14th day before the first day of early voting by personal appearance for that election; and (3) the applicant will be 18 years or older on election day.

H.B. 3227 (Hernandez Luna) – Felony Forfeiture: would permit a law enforcement agency to set aside up to ten percent of felony forfeiture funds for scholarships for the children of local officers killed in the line of duty. (Companion bill is S.B. 168 by West.)

H.B. 3228 (Hernandez Luna) – DNA Records: would require a law enforcement agency that submits a person’s DNA sample to the DNA laboratory of the U.S. Department of Justice or to a public or private crime laboratory in the state to: (1) inform the laboratory as to whether the person remains a suspect in a criminal investigation within two years of when the specimen is submitted; and (2) seek the expunction of any DNA records of a person who is no longer considered a suspect, if the suspicion of the person was the sole reason for the inclusion of those records in a database.

H.B. 3229 (Hernandez Luna) – Employee Leave: would require an employer, including a city, to: (1) allow an employee paid leave to attend court proceedings related to the crime of which the employee was a victim; (2) not deduct such paid leave from the employee’s vacation time, compensatory time off, or personal leave, unless required by a collective bargaining agreement; and (3) not discriminate, suspend, or terminate an employee based on use of such paid leave. (Companion is S.B. 64 by Zaffirini).

H.B. 3240 (Y. Davis) – E-verify: would: (1) require an employer, including a city: (a) to enroll in E-verify; (b) receive E-verify training; and (c) post a notice regarding enrollment in E-verify; (2) provide a complaint process for violations of E-verify requirements; (3) provide a civil penalty and civil cause of action for violation of E-verify requirements; and (4) make it an unlawful employment practice if an employer, including a city, that is participating in E-verify makes an employment decision without following E-verify procedures.

H.B. 3242 (Woolley) – Seized Weapons: would: (1) require that a law enforcement agency that seizes a weapon in connection with an offense under Chapter 46 of the Penal Code, which establishes various weapons offenses, or that seizes a weapon while apprehending a person believed to be mentally ill, shall hold the weapon and provide for disposition of the weapon in accordance with Article 18.19 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, unless the weapon is a prohibited weapon; (2) require prohibited weapons, as listed in Section 46.05 of the Penal Code, to be disposed of pursuant to Article 18.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; (3) require that a law enforcement officer provide written notice to a magistrate of weapons seized while apprehending a person believed to be mentally ill, regardless of whether the seizure was pursuant to a search warrant; (4) require a magistrate to make a determination about whether the return of a weapon seized from a person believed to be mentally ill will pose a substantial risk of harm; (5) provide that weapons seized and not requested to be returned and weapons that a magistrate determines will pose a substantial risk of harm under (4), above, shall be destroyed or forfeited; (6) establishes when a weapon may be returned to certain persons placed on deferred adjudication for an offense involving the use of the weapon or convicted of certain weapons offenses.

H.B. 3243 (Elkins) – Law Enforcement: would: (1) create a duty for a merchant to reasonably cooperate with a police department in the investigation of a fraudulent or unauthorized transaction on a debit, credit, or stored value card; (2) define “reasonably cooperate,” and (3) authorize a financial institution to bring an action against a merchant that willfully refuses to reasonably cooperate with a police department in an investigation of a fraudulent or unauthorized charge.

H.B. 3246 (Elkins) – Public Improvement Districts: among other things, would: (1) allow a public improvement district to include two or more noncontiguous areas separated by: (a) right-of-way or other land dedicated to or owned, leased, or used by a political subdivision or other governmental entity, tax-exempt entity, public or private utility, or railroad; or (b) not more than 1,000 feet, as measured in a straight line, between the nearest points on the property lines of the closest situated noncontiguous areas; (2) add to the list of proper public improvement projects: (a) the right to receive or provide utility service; (b) recreation facilities; (c) facilities and equipment for firefighters, police, sheriffs, and emergency service providers; and (d) acquisition, construction, maintenance, or improvement of buildings and other facilities commonly used for teaching, research, or the preservation of knowledge by an institution of higher education or for auxiliary purposes of the institution, including administration, student services and housing, athletics, performing arts, and alumni support; and (3) authorize a city council to issue certificates of obligation and revenue bonds, in addition to general obligation bonds that are allowed under current law, to pay costs or refund any bonds or obligations relating to installment sales contracts, reimbursement agreements, temporary notes, and time warrants.

H.B. 3248 (Elkins) – Electric Market: would provide that an entity – including municipally owned utility – that offers to sell electricity in a wholesale energy market at a price of more than $499 per megawatt hour shall disclose the offer to ERCOT at the time the entity makes the offer; and (2) not more than 48 hours later, ERCOT shall post on its publicly-available Internet Web site the identity of the entity that made the offer, the price at which the offer was made, and the market location and period for which the offer was made.

H.B. 3252 (Chisum) – Immigration: would: (1) prohibit an employer, including a city, from employing an undocumented immigrant; (2) create a complaint process, including hearings and penalties, for employers that employ undocumented immigrants; and (3) provide immunity from this type of violation if a city either: (a) received and documented information required by federal law from the employee within four days of employment; or (b) used E-verify to verify immigrant status.

H.B. 3253 (Martinez Fischer) – Property Tax: would require the chief appraiser to determine that the market value of temporary production aircraft located in the state is ten percent of the published “list price” for property tax purposes.

H.B. 3260 (Strama) – Energy Loans: would provide that a public utility, including a municipally owned utility, may enter into a loan agreement with a customer to finance the purchase and installation of an energy improvement for a commercial or residential building to which the public utility provides service; and (2) provide certain limitations on the amount and term of such a loan.

H.B. 3269 (Callegari) – Traffic-Control Signalization: would: (1) require grants awarded under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s new technology research and development program (Health and Safety Code Chapter 387) be directed toward a balanced mix of technologies including traffic-control signalization technologies and programs; and (2) require the Department of Public Safety to conduct a study regarding the improvement of traffic-control signalization that takes into account, among other things, the funding sources available to cities wishing to implement new traffic control programs.

H.B. 3271 (Veasey) – Elections: would prohibit an election officer from removing electronic voting system equipment or any component of the equipment from the polling place until the close of voting.

H.B. 3273 (Ritter) – State Water Implementation Fund: would create a state water implementation fund to be administered by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to pay the principal of and interest on, or to make payments under a bond enhancement agreement entered into by the TWDB with respect to the principal of or interest on, bonds issued for certain projects included in the state water plan. (Note: please see H.J.R. 138, below.)

H.B. 3275 (Coleman) – Special Districts: would:

with regard to a municipal management district (MMD): (1) allow an MMD to be included in a tax increment reinvestment zone, a tax abatement reinvestment zone, an enterprise zone, or an industrial district; and (2) provide that a governmental act or proceeding of an MMD is presumed valid after the third anniversary of the effective date if no litigation is pending in regard to the act or proceeding;
with regard to a public improvement district (PID), allow PIDs in certain counties to annex or exclude land and require consent by a city if certain powers have been delegated to the PID;
with regard to county assistance districts: (1) provide that the order calling the election to create a county assistance district may not authorize a tax rate that would exceed the maximum combined rate of sale and use taxes imposed by political subdivisions prescribed by the Tax Code; (2) allow an area to be included in a county assistance district upon petition by the owners of the land in the area; (3) authorize county assistance districts to enter into agreements with cities including agreements regarding the duration, rate, and allocation of sales and use taxes; (4) authorize a county assistance district to define specific areas to pay for improvements, facilities or services and impose different rates of sales and use tax in those areas; and (5) allow a county assistance district to increase the rate of sales and use by order if the increased rate does not exceed the rate approved at an election;
with regard to municipal utilities: (1) authorize a city to enter into a contract with a water district or nonprofit corporation under which the district or corporation will acquire for the benefit of and convey to the city one or more projects including a water supply or treatment system, a water distribution system, a sanitary sewage collection nor treatment system, works or improvements necessary for drainage of land, recreation facilities, roads and improvements in aid of roads, or facilities to provide firefighting services; and (2) allow a city to make payments under a contract described in (1), above, with revenues from city sales and use tax;
with regard to reinvestment zones: (1) prohibit a city from designating a reinvestment zone if: (a) more than 30 percent of the property is used for residential purposes; or (b) the total appraised value of real property in the zone and existing zones exceeds 25 percent of the total appraised value of real property in the city and in industrial districts created by the city, if the city has a population of 100,000 or more, or 50 percent of the total appraised value of taxable real property in the city and industrial districts created by the city, if the city has a population of less than 100,000; (2) prohibit a city from changing the boundaries of an existing reinvestment zone to include property in excess of the restriction on composition of a zone described in (1), above; (3) make changes regarding the composition of the board of directors of a reinvestment zone; (4) provide that a taxing unit’s payments into a tax increment fund may specify projects to which the taxing unit’s tax increment will be dedicated and that the taxing unit’s participation may be computed with respect to a base year later than the original base year of the zone; (5) change the amount certain school districts must pay into a tax increment fund dependent upon receipt of state aid to the district; (6) provide that a governmental act or proceeding of a city, the board of directors of a reinvestment zone, or an entity acting to operate or administer a reinvestment zone or implement a project plan or reinvestment zone financial plan under Chapter 311 of the Tax Code is presumed valid on the second anniversary of the effective date of the act or proceeding if there is no pending litigation regarding the act or proceeding; and
with regard to special districts operating under Chapter 49 of the Water Code, provide that a peace officer contracted by the district through a city is an independent contractor and the district is responsible for the actions or omissions of the peace officer only to the extent provide by law for other independent contractors.

H.B. 3283 (Guillen) – Development Corporations: would expand the term “project,” in relation to certain development corporations, to include the land, buildings, equipment, facilities, improvements, and expenditures required for the development, operation, or expansion of community libraries.

H.B. 3291 (Harper-Brown) – Health Benefits: would make it a deceptive trade practice for a health benefit provider, including a government sponsored plan provider, to knowingly make a false, misleading, or intimidating statement to an insured that would induce the consumer to obtain prescription drugs from a specific pharmacy.

H.B. 3300 (Cain) – Unfunded Mandates: would: (1) establish the membership of an unfunded mandates interagency work group; (2) provide that a political subdivision must comply with a mandate only if the legislature has provided reimbursement; (3) require a state agency that proposes to adopt or amend a rule that directly affects a political subdivision to solicit comments and advice regarding the probable cost of the rule from advisory panels with expertise of the affected subdivision and statewide organizations representing a substantial number of members of each effected class of political subdivision; and (4) require the Legislative Budget Board to establish procedures to examine each bill or constitutional amendment to identify and estimate the impact of any unfunded mandates.

H.B. 3301 (Price) – Elections: would repeal the requirement that the general custodian of election records conduct a manual count of all the races in at least one-percent of the election precincts or in three precincts, whichever is greater, in which an electronic voting system was used in order to ensure the accuracy of the tabulation of electronic voting system results.

H.B. 3306 (Marquez) – Expunction: would expand the situations in which a person convicted of an offense may have all records and files expunged that relate to the arrest leading to that conviction.

H.B. 3315 (Schwertner) – Property Tax: would provide that: (1) in order to qualify for a property tax freeze for the elderly or disabled adopted by a city, and individual’s residence homestead must both qualify: (a) for either the mandatory exemption of an additional $10,000 by the school district or an optional exemption of at least an additional $3,000 by any other taxing unit; and (b) for either the mandatory $3,000 exemption by the county for all homeowners or the optional exemption of up to 20 percent of value by any other taxing unit for all homeowners; and (2) if an individual who qualifies for either a mandatory exemption of an additional $10,000 by the school district or an optional exemption of at least an additional $3,000 by any other taxing unit dies in the first year in which the individual qualified for the exemption, the surviving spouse of the individual is entitled to a property tax freeze if one has been adopted by a city. (Note: please see H.J.R. 139, below)

H.B. 3320 (Hunter) – Vehicle Towing: would repeal Article 18.23 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that a law enforcement agency must, in some circumstances, pay the cost of towing and storing a motor vehicle when the agency directs the towing and storage for evidentiary or examination purposes.

H.B. 3324 (McClendon) – Criminal Information: would require a law enforcement agency that collects, maintains, or discloses intelligence data to: (1) follow extensive procedures when collecting, maintaining, or disseminating information about individuals and criminal activity; (2) send an annual report about this information and its use to the criminal justice committees of the house and the senate; and (3) be subject to attorney general oversight.

H.B. 3332 (Pena) – Elections: would allow a poll watcher to serve at the polling place during the hours the watcher chooses.

H.B. 3334 (Pena) – Vehicle Towing: would provide, in relation to an incident management tow when the operator of the vehicle is present, that the tow truck operator: (1) present a schedule of fees to the owner or operator of the vehicle; (2) obtain the name, phone, and address of the owner or operator of the vehicle; (3) give the owner or operator of the vehicle an information statement including the name and address of the tow company, the permit number of the tow truck certificate, the license plate number of the tow truck, the person authorizing the tow, the total charged for the tow, and the daily rate for vehicle storage and recovery fees associated with the tow; (4) keep the statement describe in (3), above, for one year after the tow and make it available to law enforcement upon request; and (5) submit a monthly report to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation regarding each commercial carrier vehicle towed. (Companion bill is S.B. 1321 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 3337 (V. Gonzales) – Emergency Medical Services: would provide that an emergency medical services provider has a lien on a cause of action or claim of an individual who receives emergency medical services for injuries caused by an accident that is attributed to the negligence of another person.

H.B. 3338 (Smithee) – Texas Municipal Retirement System: would: (1) allow a participating Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) city to adopt a non-retroactive flat rate Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA); (2) to comply with federal law applicable to qualified plans, provide that any increased payment to an annuitant resulting from such a COLA adopted by a city would be limited to the cumulative increase the annuitant would have been entitled to receive if the 70 percent of CPI limit under TMRS’s existing law had been applied to the annuity; and (3) require that, if a city adopts an ordinance to either discontinue an annually repeating COLA or to reduce an annually repeating COLA, the city must give written notice to members and annuitants at least 60 days prior to the effective date of the change adopted in the ordinance. (Companion bill is S.B. 642 by Seliger.)

H.B. 3367 (White) – Sales Tax: would repeal all laws relating to the imposition of property taxes and expand the applicability of state and local sales and use taxes to replace property tax revenue.

H.B. 3372 (T. King) – Harvested Rainwater: would authorize the use of harvested rainwater for drinking water and other potable uses in a structure connected to a public water supply system.

H.B. 3383 (Madden) – DNA Evidence: would: (1) authorize a police department to send DNA evidence from certain property crimes to a private, accredited DNA laboratory for analysis; (2) require the police department to pay all costs of the analysis if it is sent to a private lab under that provision; (3) require a public DNA laboratory to do quality assurance reviews of the private DNA laboratories in the area, to be paid for in forensic analysis services by the private DNA laboratory, if the public laboratory lacks the resources.

H.B. 3385 (Madden) – 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. (Companion bill is S.B. 1106 by Harris.)

H.B. 3387 (Rodriguez) – Farmers’ Markets: would: (1) regulate various aspects of the preparation, storage, distribution and sale of food at farmers’ markets; (2) prohibit a local enforcement agency from mandating a specific method for complying with temperature control requirements for food prepared on-site or transported to the farmers’ market; and (3) prohibit a local enforcement agency from adopting a rule requiring the farmers’ market to pay a permit fee for conducting a cooking demonstration or providing samples of food for educational purposes.

H.B. 3388 (Fletcher) – Fireworks: would provide that the transport of fireworks in unopened and original packaging may not be prohibited or regulated.

H.B. 3391 (D. Miller) – Harvested Rainwater: would: (1) encourage a city to promote rainwater harvesting through incentives such as the provision at a discount of rain barrels or rebates for water storage facilities; (2) require any city that has adopted impervious cover or density restrictions to consider the use of harvested rainwater as an on-site water supply source in determining whether to grant the development a credit against or exemption from the restrictions; (3) require each member of the permitting staff of a city located wholly or partly in an area designated as a priority groundwater management area or any city with a population of more than 100,000 to receive mandatory training on rainwater harvesting at least once every five years; and (4) prohibit a city from denying a building permit solely because the facility will implement rainwater harvesting.

H.B. 3394 (Oliveira) – County Development Authority: would make various changes to the statute that allows certain counties to enforce building codes in certain circumstances, including provisions that would provide that: (1) if a city located within a county to which the bill applies has adopted a building code in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, the building code adopted by the city controls and county building codes have no effect in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, provided that the city actively and diligently enforces its adopted building code within its extraterritorial jurisdiction; and (2) a utility may not serve or connect a residential dwelling or unit of a residential dwelling with water, sewer, electricity, or gas service unless the entity receives a determination from the commissioners court that the residential dwelling or unit is in compliance with the county’s regulations. (Companion bill is S.B. 1362 by Lucio.) (Note: please see S.J.R. 40, below.)

H.B. 3396 (Hernandez Luna) -- Security Breach: would increase the penalty for the offense of breach of computer security if the breach involves a government-owned computer facility or a critical infrastructure facility. (Companion bill is S.B. 808 by Seliger).

H.B. 3402 (Coleman) -- Mandatory Health Benefit: would: (1) create a health insurance exchange; (2) require certain health benefits carriers to pay the same rate or have the same cost-sharing arrangements for non-network providers of emergency care as network providers; (3) prohibit some health benefits carriers from requiring preauthorization for emergency services; (4) require certain health care plans to allow an individual to use any primary care physician they choose; (5) limit the reasons why an insurer can rescind health insurance; (6) prohibit a health benefit provider, including a risk pool, from denying or limiting coverage for a preexisting condition with respect to an individual who is 19 years of age or younger; (7) require a health benefit provider, including a risk pool: (a) to approve enrollment for a minor child of an enrollee; (b) to offer child only plans or lose the ability to offer any plans; (c) to require a deductible or other cost sharing provision applicable to a preventative item or service, an immunization, or screenings; or (d) impose a lifetime maximum benefit or coverage amount. (Companion bill is S.B. 1782 by Ellis).

H.B. 3405 (Chisum) – Scrap Tires: would, before a land reclamation project using scrap tires may begin, require: (1) a permit for the project from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); (2) notice to the governing body of a city if the project is located in its corporate limits or ETJ; and (3) comments or suggestions from the city’s governing body to the TCEQ regarding the project. (Companion bill is S.B. 1471 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 3407 (L. Taylor) – Gas Rates: would provide that: (1) in establishing a gas utility’s rates, the regulatory authority (e.g., a city or the Public Utility Commission) may not allow the utility to recover through its rates the attorney’s fees or other expenses incurred by any party in a rate proceeding or in an appeal of a rate proceeding; and (2) a court may not award to a party the right to recover through a gas utility’s rates the attorney’s fees or other expenses incurred by any party in a rate proceeding conducted or in an appeal of a rate proceeding.

H.B. 3411 (L. Gonzales) – Sales Tax: would expand the definition of “tangible personal property” to include a computer program and a telephone prepaid calling card for sales tax purposes. (Companion bill is S.B. 1519 by Uresti.)

H.B. 3422 (Lozano) – Law Enforcement: would allow a city law enforcement agency to use unclaimed proceeds from the sale of certain motor vehicles to compensate property owners whose property is damaged as a result of a pursuit involving the law enforcement agency, regardless of the agency’s liability.

H.B. 3434 (Raymond) – Municipal Court Education: would: (1) prohibit the court of criminal appeals from adopting rules that require judges to complete continuing judicial training more frequently than every two years; (2) create requirements for the timing and contents of judicial training; and (3) prohibit the court of criminal appeals from approving an organization to sponsor continuing judicial training for judges in the state unless the organization provides training to municipal, county court, statutory county court, and district judges.

H.B. 3442 (J. Jackson) – 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. (Companion bill is S.B. 1241 by West.)

H.B. 3448 (Aliseda) – Elections: would require an application form for an early voting mail ballot to include: (1) a statement informing the applicant of the eligibility requirements for early voting by mail; and (2) a statement informing the applicant of the offense and penalty associated with providing false information on an application.

H.B. 3449 (Christian) – Oil and Gas Waste: would require any person who applies for a permit to use land application to treat and dispose of certain oil and gas wastes to provide written notice to, among others, the mayor of each city in the area in which the ground application will occur.

H.B. 3450 (Farrar) – Animal Shelters: would: (1) provide that it is the intent of the state to curtail the killing of savable animals; (2) define “public sheltering agency” (agency) as any animal shelter or animal adoption group that receives city funding and/or has a contract with a city under which it accepts stray or owner-relinquished animals; (3) prohibit, with some exceptions, an agency from selling, adopting, or giving away an animal that has not been spayed or neutered; (4) provide that a person is subject to civil penalties for falsifying certain spaying or neutering records and issuing a check for insufficient funds for a spaying or neutering deposit and that all penalties collected must be retained by the agency bringing the action; (5) exempt a “feral cat caregiver” from any provision of law that prescribes their feeding or harboring the cats or limits the number of cats the person can own; (6) prohibit, with some exceptions, an agency from providing traps to the public to capture cats; (7) subject a person to civil penalties for using a trap from an agency in an unauthorized manner and provide that all penalties collected must be retained by the agency bringing the action; (8) require, with some exceptions, a minimum 5-day holding period for stray animals impounded by an agency; (9) provide special provisions for owner-relinquished animals; (10) mandate that agencies that kill animals keep a registry of organizations that will accept animals for the purpose of adoption; (11) prohibit an agency from killing an animal unless reasonable attempts are made to notify organizations on the registry in (10), above; (12) mandate that an agency take action to check an animal for identification, maintain continuously updated lists of animals reported lost, and post all stray animals on the Internet; (13) require an agency to take and record certain actions to notify an owner of a lost animal; (14) prohibit an agency from limiting adoption of an animal based on criteria such as breed, age, or color; (15) require an agency to provide certain public services; (16) prohibit the procurement or use of a living animal from an agency for medical or biological teaching, research, or study; (17) forbid hospitals, education or commercial institutions, labs, or animal dealers from purchasing or accepting animals from an agency, peace officer, or animal control officer; (18) prohibit an agency, peace officer, or animal control officer from selling, adopting, transferring, or giving away a living animal to those listed in (17), above; (19) establish preconditions for euthanasia and euthanasia procedures; (18) establish certain reporting requirements for an agency; and (20) authorize any appropriate remedy at law to compel compliance with the bill’s provisions.

H.B. 3452 (Anchia) – Public Improvement Districts: would: (1) authorize a city council to undertake an improvement project that confers a special benefit on properties that have a common land use or other common characteristic; (2) expand the list of permissible public improvements to include the costs of operating and maintaining mass transportation facilities financed with public improvement district assessments; (3) for any project to be financed through a deferred payment, require a governing body to prepare an estimate of the appraised value of the properties in the district and the cost of the improvement before the improvement is constructed and before a hearing is held; and (4) provide that interest shall accrue on an assessment or deferred assessment.

H.B. 3474 (Gallego) – Alcohol Offenses: would: (1) expand the offense of “public intoxication” to include the consumption, possession or purchase of an alcoholic beverage in a public place by any person younger than twenty-one; (2) expand the definition of “public place” to include any premises that is accessible by two or more unrelated persons under twenty-one years old and on which any one of those persons possesses alcohol; (3) create an exception to prosecution in certain cases for the offense of public intoxication if the person is under twenty-one and requested emergency medical assistance in response to the possible overdose of the minor or another person; and (4) require a judge to, in certain situations, require the defendant to perform community service and attend alcohol awareness classes.

H.B. 3475 (Gallego) – Municipal Judges: would: (1) create a process for a motion for recusal or disqualification of a municipal judge in a specific case; (2) require that, before further proceedings in a case where such a motion has been filed, the judge recuse or disqualify himself or herself or forward the motion to be heard by either the presiding municipal judge in the city or the county judge; (3) if the judge recuses or disqualifies himself or herself, require the judge to enter an order of recusal or disqualification and request that the case be heard by either the presiding judge of the city or another city’s municipal judge as assigned by the county judge; (4) authorize a judge hearing a motion to recuse who finds that the motion was made solely for the purpose of delay to find the movant in contempt; and (5) require the city secretary of a city with a municipal court to notify the Texas Judicial Council of the name of each person who is elected or appointed as mayor, municipal court judge, or clerk of a municipal court, within thirty days of the person’s election, appointment, or vacancy from office.

H.B. 3479 (Christian) – Sales Tax: would provide that: (1) the sales tax rate is one percent of the sales price of tangible personal property purchased by a qualifying data center that is necessary to manage or operate the data center; and (2) local sales taxes are inapplicable to tangible personal property purchased by a qualifying data center that is necessary to manage or operate the data center.

H.B. 3480 (Christian) – TCEQ Enforcement: would prohibit the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from imposing a standard or requirement to regulate an activity under the TCEQ’s jurisdiction that is more stringent than the minimum acceptable standard or requirement under the applicable federal law or a regulation adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the same activity.

H.B. 3483 (Christian) – Sale of Residential Real Property: would require a person who sells an interest in residential real property to give the purchaser written notice specifying the nature of any contamination on or under the property, including the contaminant, the source (if known), and the location and extent of the contaminant, but would exclude certain property transfers from the notice requirement, including property transferred to or from a governmental entity.

H.B. 3485 (V. Taylor) – Search and Rescue Animals: would allow the use of human remains in the training of search and rescue animals by persons certified by a state or local law enforcement agency to train such animals.

H.B. 3486 (V. Taylor) – Search and Rescue Animals: would prohibit a city from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, including a leash law, that restricts the ability of a volunteer search and rescue team to train a service dog for search and rescue or law enforcement purposes.

H.B. 3487 (V. Taylor) – Law Enforcement Canine: would prohibit a commercial lodging establishment or restaurant from requiring the payment of extra money or a deposit for a service canine that accompanies an individual to the establishment or restaurant if the individual is a peace officer or firefighter assigned to a canine unit, a search and rescue canine handler participating in a search and rescue under authority of a law enforcement agency, or away from home in the course and scope of duty because of a declared disaster or mutual aid request or training.

H.B. 3488 (Menendez) – Property Tax: would require an applicant for a property tax exemption for the residence homestead of an elderly or disabled person who is not specifically listed on a deed or other recorded instrument to provide an affidavit or other compelling evidence establishing the applicant’s ownership of an interest in the homestead.

H.B. 3492 (Coleman) – County Development Authority: would provide that the commissioners court of a county may adopt: (1) regulations to establish and ensure compliance with requirements for a buffer zone between an industrial use and a residential or civic use; (2) a comprehensive plan for the unincorporated area of the county; and (3) a roadway cost recovery fee. The bill would also impose detailed procedures on a county that takes advantage of the authority.

H.B. 3495 (Coleman) -- Workers Compensation: would extend workers compensation benefits to the spouse of a deceased peace officer killed in the line of duty if the spouse: (1) remarries; and (2) the remarriage ends in death or divorce.

H.B. 3497 (Darby) – Elections: would: (1) before the tenth day after the local canvass is conducted, require the general custodian of election records to notify the presiding officer of the local canvassing authority of any discovery of legal ballots that were not counted and included in the local canvass; (2) require a presiding officer who is notified of uncounted ballots to apply to a district court of the county in which the canvassing authority is located for disposition of the ballots; and (3) require the district court to hold a hearing on the application and take any necessary action to include legal ballots that were not counted in the results of the election. (Companion bill is S.B. 1675 by Duncan.)

H.B. 3502 (Raymond) – Precious Metals Dealers: would, among other things, provide that the governing body of a city may license, tax, suppress, prevent, or otherwise regulate cash-for-gold establishments.

H.B. 3510 (Hamilton) – Vehicle Towing: would: (1) require the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to adopt requirements for a consent tow, private property tow, and incident management tow; (2) impose certain requirements regarding the renewal of a license under Occupations Code Chapter 2308 relating to towing and booting; (3) require a towing company to file a fee schedule with the Department of Licensing and Regulation at various times; (4) provide that a boot operator may boot a vehicle in certain circumstances only if the parking facility owner requests the boot or has a standing written agreement with the boot operator; and (5) require certain signage before the towing or booting of vehicles under certain circumstances. (Companion bill is S.B. 1371 by Carona.)

H.B. 3518 (Rodriguez) – Local Option Transportation Funding: would enact the Texas Local Option Transportation Act. Specifically, the bill would – among many other things: (1) authorize new transportation funding methods, including a county tax on the sale of motor vehicle fuel at a rate not to exceed ten cents per gallon and a local-option mobility improvement fee in an amount not to exceed $60; (2) provide that the commissioners court of a county by order may call an election on the issue of authorizing one or more funding methods under the bill for one or more mobility projects located in the county; and (3) provide that a county may not be penalized with a reduction in traditional transportation funding because of the imposition of a method of local-option funding under the bill.

H.B. 3520 (Hughes) – Advance Directives: would amend various provisions of the Advance Directives Act (Chapter 166, Health and Safety Code) and related statutes to ensure that when an attending physician is unwilling to administer certain treatments, life-sustaining medical treatment will be provided until the patient can be transferred to a health care provider willing to provide the treatment requested.

H.B. 3522 (Bonnen) – EMS: would make aggravated assault on emergency services personnel while the person is providing emergency services a felony of the first degree.

H.B. 3523 (Bonnen) – Municipal Code Enforcement: would: (1) specifically override the section of the Texas Local Government Code allowing a city to set a fine of up to $2,000 for the violation of a rule, ordinance, or police regulation that governs fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation; and (2) require that any Class C misdemeanor that is punishable by fine be punished only by a fine between $25 and $500.

H.B. 3526 (Y. Davis) – Warrants: would require, for warrants issued for the arrest of a person alleged to have violated certain protective orders for victims of family violence, that the arresting officer attach to the warrant a written statement identifying the victim of the alleged offense, if that information is available to the officer.

H.B. 3527 (Y. Davis) – Traffic Fines: would allow a city of less than 5,000 to retain more money from fines and expenses collected for certain traffic violations if the money is used for fire, rescue, and emergency medical services.

H.B. 3530 (Ritter) – Texas Water Development Board: this is the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) sunset bill. The bill would, among other provisions: (1) require the TWDB to develop and implement a policy to encourage the use of negotiated rulemaking and alternative dispute resolution procedures; (2) make changes to the manner in which defaults on TWDB financial assistance is handled by the board; (3) require the TWDB to create a uniform water use calculation system for municipal water use and require that the system be used in water conservation plans and certain other reports required by statute; (4) require the executive administrator of the TWDB to designate the director of the Texas Natural Resources Information System to serve as the state geographic information officer and, among other duties, support the geographic data needs of emergency management responders during emergencies; (5) require the TWDB to establish advisory committees, including local governmental representative members, to assist the board with state geographic data issues; (6) require regional water plans to be consistent with the desired future conditions adopted for the relevant aquifers located in the regional water planning area; (7) require notice of any meeting or hearing at which the board will consider or take public comments on the desired future condition for an aquifer to be posted in several places at least ten days before the hearing; (8) create several new issues that must be considered in the determination of an aquifer’s desired future condition; and (9) create a public comment period and public hearing requirement before any vote on the proposed desired future conditions for an aquifer, and require that an explanatory report be distributed after the adoption of the desired future conditions. (Companion bill is S.B. 660 by Hinojosa.)

H.B. 3534 (Kleinschmidt) – Permit Vesting: would provide that a political subdivision, including a city, is liable for damages related to a violation of Chapter 245 of the Local Government Code (the “permit vesting” statute).

H.B. 3535 (Kleinschmidt) – Permit Vesting: would provide that: (1) a political subdivision, including a city, that violates Chapter 245 of the Local Government Code (the “permit vesting” statute) is liable to the state for a civil penalty in an amount of $2,000 per day of violation; and (2) the attorney general may recover a penalty in a suit brought on behalf of the state, with money collected being paid to the comptroller for deposit in the general revenue fund.

H.B. 3540 (Phillips) – Property Tax: would, among other things: (1) require each appraisal district, assessor, and collector to use software certified by the comptroller in connection with the appraisal of property for tax purposes; (2) provide that an appraisal district is governed by a board of seven directors, two of whom are elected at the general election for state and county officers by the voters of the county for which the district is established, and five of whom are appointed by the taxing units that participate in the district; (3) provide for the election of the chief appraiser at the general election for state and county officers by the voters of the county for which the appraisal district is established; (4) require the county judge of each county for which an appraisal district was established shall appoint an attorney as protest hearing officer to mediate protest hearings conducted by the appraisal review board.

H.B. 3543 (Farrar) – Environmental Enforcement: would require that criminal convictions relating to compliance with rules and statutes under the jurisdiction of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from a local government to which the TCEQ refers complaints for investigation be considered when the TCEQ is examining compliance history.

H.B. 3547 (Alvarado) – Day Care: would provide that: (1) a city or a county may enforce state law and rules adopted under state law concerning fire safety standards at a licensed group day-care home or a registered family home; and (2) a city or county shall report to the Department of Family and Protective Services any violation of fire safety standards observed by the city or county at a licensed group day-care home or registered family home. (Companion bill is S.B. 1745 by Gallegos.)

H.B. 3550 (Fletcher) – Court Fees: would: (1) create a law enforcement fee of between $500 and $2000 to be paid upon conviction of certain commercial motor vehicle offenses; and (2) require that any revenue collected from the law enforcement fee be deposited in the general revenue fund for law enforcement purposes.

H.B. 3552 (Garza) – Property Tax: would: (1) provide that a community housing development organization improving property for low-income and moderate-income housing is considered to own property for tax exemption purposes if the organization has legal or equitable title to the property; and (2) provide that an organization constructing or rehabilitating low-income housing is considered to own property for tax exemption purposes if the organization has legal or equitable title to the property.

H.B. 3555 (Riddle) – Impact Fees: would provide that an institution of higher education is not required to pay impact fees, unless the governing body of the institution consents to the payment of the fees by entering a contract with the political subdivision that imposes the fees.

H.B. 3557 (Lucio) – Mandatory Health Benefit: would require a health benefit plan to provide coverage for autism spectrum disorder until the individual is 17 years of age. (Companion bill is S.B. 441 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3575 (Thompson) – Gambling: would provide for the operation of casino gaming by Indian tribes on certain land and authorize a tribe to direct, in the gaming compact with the state, a portion of the state’s revenue be paid to local governments for government services that benefit the general public (including public safety), mitigate the impacts of gaming, or promote commerce and economic development.

H.B. 3576 (Thompson) – Gambling: would: (1) provide for the operation of casino gaming by Indian tribes on certain land and by operators at horse and greyhound racetracks and licensed locations; (2) authorize a tribe to direct, in the gaming compact with the state, a portion of the state’s revenue be paid to local governments for government services that benefit the general public (including public safety), mitigate the impacts of gaming, or promote commerce and economic development.

H.B. 3582 (Harless) – Elections: would provide that the allocation of election expenses in a joint election involving a school district must provide that the school district is responsible only for the proportion of election expenses that correspond to the total number of registered voters in the school district as compared to the total numbers of registered voters of all political subdivisions participating in the election. (Companion bill is S.B. 477 by Patrick.)

H.B. 3583 (Harless) – Coin-Operated Machines: would: (1) provide that information regarding certain coin-operated machines derived from a book, record, report, or application that must be made available to a peace officer is confidential, unless it is specifically designated as a public record; (2) require an owner or operator of a music, or skill, or coin-operated machine who is required to hold a license or registration certificate to prominently display any certificate of occupancy or certificate of compliance issued by a city for the premises; (3) make failure to comply with (2), above, a criminal offense; (4) provide that a peace officer may enter the premises of a license or registration certificate holder during normal business hours and any other time a music or skill or pleasure coin-operated machine is available for use; (5) make a knowing denial or hindrance of entry described in (4), above, a criminal offense; (6) authorize a peace officer to seal a coin-operated machine under certain circumstances; (7) provide that is an offense to: (a) falsify, fail to maintain, or refuse or fail to make available certain records of a coin-operated machine to a peace officer; (b) mislead a peace officer in connection with the enforcement of certain regulations regarding coin-operated machines; (c) break a seal that is attached by a peace officer; and (d) remove a coin-operated machine from the location where a peace officer affixed a seal to a machine.

H.B. 3585 (V. Taylor) – Elections: would implement the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act by requiring the early voting clerk to make registration and absentee ballots available to overseas military voters in an election held in conjunction with an election involving a federal or statewide office.

H.B. 3592 (D. Howard) – Fire Flow: would require the Lower Colorado River Authority to ensure that for any area in which the authority owns or operates the local water supply system, the water pressure for service to fire hydrants in the area is adequate to protect public safety.

H.B. 3598 (Huberty) – Arson: would require a criminal registration procedure for a convicted arsonist that is similar to the current sex offender registration program, including required registration with and required tracking and reporting by a local law enforcement agency. (Companion bill is S.B. 1191 by Gallegos.)

H.B. 3600 (Garza) – Solid Waste: would subject a private entity that contracts to provide temporary solid waste disposal services to a construction project to the requirements of Health and Safety Code Section 364.034 which would give cities increased authority over such contracts, including the ability to charge certain fees and enforce fee collection.

H.B. 3603 (Garza) – Municipal Court Building Security Fund: would authorize the use of funds from a city’s municipal court building security fund for warrant officers and related equipment. (This bill is identical to S.B. 1521 by Uresti.)

H.B. 3604 (Smithee) – Construction Contracts: would provide that a construction insurance provision is void and unenforceable to the extent that it requires that: (1) a person, including an indemnitee under an indemnification agreement, be an additional insured; or (2) the insurance policy be endorsed to provide a waiver of subrogation. The bill would also provide that the bill’s limitations may not be waived by contract or otherwise.

H.B. 3606 (Kuempel) – Impact Fees: would provide that a political subdivision or other governmental entity that levies or collects an ad valorem tax is not required to pay impact fees, unless the governing body of the political subdivision or other governmental entity consents to the payment of the fees by entering a contract with the political subdivision that imposes the fees. The contract may contain terms the governing body considers advisable to provide for the payment of the fees.

H.B. 3607 (Kuempel) – Construction Manager-At-Risk: would provide that: (1) a construction manager-at-risk contract may not be awarded to: (a) a governmental entity’s engineer, architect, construction manager-agent, or program director; or (b) a sole proprietor, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other entity that is a subsidiary, parent corporation, or partner or has any other relationship in which the governmental entity’s engineer, architect, construction manager-agent, or program director has an ownership interest, or is subject to common ownership or control, or is party to an agreement by which it will receive any proceeds of the construction manager-at-risk’s payments from the governmental entity; (2) a contract awarded in violation of the bill is void as contrary to public policy; and (3) the bill does not apply to: (a) a public corporation in which three percent or less of the outstanding stock is owned by a governmental entity’s architect or engineer; or (b) a person who enters into a joint venture for a project or contract unrelated to the current project for which a construction manager-at-risk is being selected.

H.B. 3610 (Thompson) – Streamlined Electric Ratemaking: would provide that: (1) the Public Utility Commission or a regulatory authority (e.g., a city), on the petition of an electric utility, may approve a tariff or rate schedule in which a nonfuel rate may be periodically adjusted upward or downward based on changes in the utility’s investment; (2) a periodic rate adjustment must: (a) be approved in compliance with an expedited procedure that provides for appropriate updates of information and allows for participation by the Office of Public Utility Counsel and affected parties; (b) take into account the effect that changes in the number of an electric utility’s customers, energy consumption, and energy demand have on the amount of revenue recovered through the electric utility’s base rates; (c) be consistent with the manner in which costs were allocated to each rate class, as approved by the commission, in an electric utility’s most recent base rate proceeding; (d) not diminish the ability of the commission, on its own motion or on complaint by an affected person, after reasonable notice and hearing, to change the existing rates of an electric utility for a service after finding that the rates are unreasonable or in violation of law; and (e) be applied by an electric utility on a system-wide basis; (3) an electric utility in the ERCOT power region, or an unbundled electric utility outside the ERCOT power region in whose service area retail competition is available, that requests a periodic rate adjustment under the bill shall: (a) with some exceptions, and to the extent possible, combine all nonfuel rates to be adjusted in a 12-month period that are charged by the utility to retail electric providers into a single, annual rate adjustment; and (b) finalize the resulting rates and provide notice to retail electric providers of the resulting rates not later than the 45th day before the date the rates take effect; (4) a periodic rate adjustment approved under the bill may not be used to adjust a nonfuel rate relating to the generation of electricity; and (5) the commission shall adopt rules necessary to implement the bill. (Companion bill is S.B. 1087 by Carona.)

H.B. 3614 (Hughes) – 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 that is equal to the auction average rate quoted on a bank discount basis for three-month treasury bills issued by the federal government.

H.B. 3615 (Hughes) – Property Tax: would prohibit the chief appraiser from increasing the appraised value of a property in the three tax years following a year in which a property’s appraised value was reduced in an appeal, unless an increase by the chief appraiser is supported by clear and convincing evidence.

H.B. 3617 (Madden) -- State Commissions on Public Safety: would abolish the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, and the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education and create the Public Safety Licensing Commission. (Companion bill is S.B. 1585 by Ogden). >

H.B. 3622 (R. Anderson) – Death of a Pet: would make a person liable for intentionally or negligently causing the death of a pet, but except from this liability the official act or omission of a nonprofit or governmental unit.

H.B. 3627 (Aliseda) – Elections: would allow an individual to use a mechanical or electronic means of recording images or sound while at a polling station only if the recording does not affect the confidentiality of a voter and the voter’s ballot, as determined by the presiding judge.

H.B. 3632 (Hamilton) – Fireworks: would provide that Occupations Code Chapter 2154 governs the regulation of fireworks except that: (1) a city may regulate the sale and use of fireworks within its city limits and its existing ETJ, if the city prohibited fireworks in the ETJ before September 1, 2011; (2) after September 1, 2011, a city may not, after annexing an area, adopt a regulation to prohibit continuing to use the land for the sale and possession of legal fireworks or beginning to use the land for those purposes, if that use was planned before the 90th day before the effective date of annexation.

H.B. 3635 (Dutton) -- Sexually Oriented Businesses: would: (1) create a registration and inspection process for sexually oriented businesses; and (2) impose a tax on these businesses.

H.B. 3636 (Hamilton) – Culverts and Drainage Systems: would, in relation to culverts and other enclosed flood or drainage systems, require a local government entity: (1) to ensure that the system is protected by a bar, grate, or covering; (2) to post a sign warning of the hazard for a child; and (3) to provide a hinged or similar opening to permit emergency services personnel to access the system.

H.B. 3649 (Otto) – Law Enforcement: would: (1) make changes to the way that grants are allocated by the Automobile Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority, including changing from distribution based on geographic rates of auto theft to statewide rates; and (2) authorize the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to set and collect a reasonable fee to cover the cost of performing any re-inspection of a municipal jail operated for a city by a private vendor as required by state law. (Companion bill is S.B. 1583 by Ogden.)

H.B. 3657 (Otto) – Jails: would: (1) authorize the Commission on Jail Standards to set and collect a reasonable fee to cover the cost of performing any re-inspection of certain city jails that is required by state law or commission rule or upon request by the city; and (2) repeal provisions in Government Code section 511.0091 that limit the fees that can be collected by the commission for the review of construction documents and occupancy and annual inspections.

H.B. 3658 (Otto) – Municipal Court Staff Education: would: (1) specify that the judicial and court personnel training fund is an account in the general revenue fund which may be appropriated only to the court of criminal appeals for judicial and court staff training; and (2) eliminate the current provision requiring any unexpended balance in excess of $500,000 at the end of each fiscal year to be transferred to the general revenue fund.

H.B. 3659 (Otto) – Texas Municipal Retirement System: would require a public retirement system, including the Texas Municipal Retirement System, to annually pay the State Pension Review Board fifty cents for each member account.

H.B. 3667 (Pena) -- Immigration: would: (1) prohibit an employer, including a city, from hiring undocumented immigrants; and (2) impose a fine for knowingly employing an undocumented immigrant.

H.B. 3668 (Callegari) – Certificates of Convenience and Necessity (CCNs): would: (1) authorize the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to grant a CCN to a retail public utility within city limits or a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) if, after 180 days have passed since a formal request for a CCN for the area was filed, the city is does not enter into a binding agreement to provide service to the area or the city has refused to provide the service applied for as evidenced by a formal vote or formal notification by the city; (2) require the TCEQ to require as a term of the CCN granted within a city’s city limits or ETJ that the authorized water and sewer facilities be designed and constructed in compliance with the city’s standards for such facilities; (3) authorize a landowner to elect to exclude some or all of his property from a city’s CCN expansion beyond its ETJ, but exempt the utility from any requirement to provide water or sewer service to that excluded area in the future, including the violation of law or commission rules by the water or sewer system of another person; (4) allow a landowner to apply for expedited release from a CCN, even if the CCN holder is a borrower under a federal loan program; (5) require a landowner applying for expedited CCN release to include information about cost of service provision for the proposed alternate service provider and requested infrastructure needs, including fire flow, and require the holder of the CCN from which the landowner is requesting release to prove that it can provide comparable service at approximately the same cost as the proposed alternative service provider; and (6) authorize the TCEQ to find only that a proposed alternative service provider is capable of providing the requested service in order to release a property from another CCN where the holder of that CCN has never made service available through planning, design, construction of facilities, or contractual obligations to serve the area the petitioner seeks to have released.

H.B. 3675 (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; (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; and (12) provide that the sales tax rate on a taxable item that meets the definition of “subscription video services” is 5 3/4 percent of the sales price of the taxable item sold (as opposed to 6 ¼ percent).

H.B. 3676 (F. Brown) – Professional Services: would provide that, when procuring architectural, engineering, or land surveying services, a governmental entity – including a city – shall: (1) base its choice on demonstrated competence, knowledge, and qualifications and on the reasonableness of the proposed fee for the services; and (2) if other considerations are equal, give preference to a provider of those services whose principal place of business is in this state or who will manage the contract wholly from an office in this state.

H.B. 3677 (F. Brown) – Information Resources: would authorize the Department of Information Resources to charge an administrative fee to a city that purchases commodity items – such as commercial software, hardware, and technology services – through the department in an amount equal to two percent of the price of the commodity items purchased.

H.B. 3684 (Callegari) – 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 in 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. (Companion bill is S.B. 1252 by Williams.)

H.B. 3685 (Aliseda) – Sales Tax: would: (1) allow for the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays between the hours of noon and 6 p.m.; and (2) provide that an amount equal to two percent of the proceeds from the collection of the taxes imposed on the retail sale of alcohol during noon and 6 p.m. on a Sunday shall be credited to the state property tax relief fund.

H.B. 3690 (Anchia) – Public Improvement Districts: would allow a public improvement district to consist of noncontiguous properties that have a common land use or other common characteristics. (Companion bill is S.B. 1369 by West.)

H.B. 3692 (Gallego) – Law Enforcement: would: (1) require a peace officer answering an emergency call to attempt to determine whether any person involved is a person with mental illness and, if so, and no offense has been committed, require the officer to notify local mental health authorities and provide assistance to the mentally ill person and authorize the officer take the person into custody; (2) require a peace officer answering an emergency call to attempt to determine whether any person involved is a person with mental illness and, if so, and an offense has been committed, authorize the officer to issue a citation in lieu of arrest or take the person into custody; (3) provide, in regard to an incompetency trial, that a suggestion of incompetency is the threshold requirement for an informal inquiry which may be satisfied solely by a representation from any source; (4) require the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education to establish minimum curriculum requirements for preparatory and advanced programs that include training in mental illness.

H.B. 3695 (Gallego) – Juveniles: would make all records, files, and information stored by electronic means or otherwise from which a record or file could be generated, related to a child who is convicted and has satisfied the judgment for a fine-only misdemeanor offense other than a traffic offense confidential, to be released only in certain situations. (This bill is similar to S.B. 1752 by Uresti.)

H.B. 3701 (Fletcher) – Public Information: would except from public disclosure information contained in a citation for a class C misdemeanor and that relates to the home address, phone, social security number, or family-member information of a person.

H.B. 3704 (Brown) – Property Tax: would provide that a community housing development organization is entitled to a property tax exemption for certain buildings and other real and tangible personal property used exclusively by the organization or a political subdivision of the state for the acquisition, building, repair, sale, or rental of property.

H.B. 3705 (Hamilton) – Emergency Planning: would, among other things, create the disaster reconstruction coordination office as an office within the office of the governor. (Companion bill is S.B. 1461 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3706 (Callegari) – Federal Programs and Mandates: would authorize the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house to establish the state sovereignty oversight work group to identify, monitor, and analyze certain pending or enacted federal legislation and take related action to educate public officials and citizens about the legislation, implement the legislation, and identify recommended changes to the legislation.

H.B. 3727 (Hilderbran) – Property Tax: would require the chief appraiser to determine the market value of temporary production aircraft located in the state to be ten percent of the published “list price” for property tax purposes.

H.B. 3729 (Martinez) – Extraterritorial Jurisdiction: would provide that a city may expand its extraterritorial jurisdiction into another city’s existing extraterritorial jurisdiction through annexation if a written agreement was in place at the time of the annexations that apportioned the overlapping area to the city conducting the annexation.

H.B. 3731 (Martinez) – Transportation: would provide that: (1) the Texas Transportation Commission shall adopt provisions relating to the accommodation of bicycles, pedestrians, and mass transit riders in transportation planning; and (2) a local authority – including a city – shall establish minimum guidelines to accommodate bicycles, pedestrians, and mass transit riders in all transportation planning, construction, reconstruction, street or highway improvements, and transportation facilities, including mass transit facilities, that must conform to the provisions adopted by the commission.

H.B. 3735 (Martinez) -- Texas Commission on Fire Protection: would: (1) send all fees collected by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection to a special account dedicated to funding the commission as opposed to sending half to the account and half to general revenue; and (2) change the composition of the commission by having at least one fire chief member and one fire fighter member from a city with less than 150,000 in population. (Companion bill is S.B. 1673 by Gallegos).

H.B. 3736 (Martinez) -- Civil Service: would prohibit a city manager in a civil service city from being the department head of a fire department or police department, unless the individual is qualified under civil service requirements.

H.B. 3739 (Morrison) – Sales Tax: would provide that the sale, use, or other consumption of tangible personal property is exempted from sales taxes if the property is used directly in the research or development of inventions, products, processes, or technology by a person primarily engaged in: (1) the manufacturing of tangible personal property for sale; (2) the provision of telecommunication services; or (3) the performance of scientific or technical services for a person described by (1) or (2), above.

H.B. 3742 (Schwertner) – Transportation:would provide a procedure whereby a political subdivision that participates financially in certain Texas Department of Transportation projects may assist with, and expedite, the environmental review process.

H.B. 3746 (Frullo) – Internet Crimes: would: (1) create a new court cost to be collected from a person who, upon conviction, is required to register as a sex offender; and (2) transmit the proceeds from that cost to a special fund known as the Internet Crimes Against Children Fund, to be appropriated equally to the three Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in the state. (This bill is similar to S.B. 1843 by Carona.)

H.B. 3748 (Phillips) – Forensic Science: would, among several other provisions: (1) abolish the Texas Forensic Science Commission; (2) create a Division of Forensic Sciences at the Department of Public Safety (DPS) , transferring certain duties of the TFSC to the new division; (3) require the division director for the Division of Forensic Sciences to recommend for DPS adoption guidelines for collecting forensic evidence and for preserving the integrity of forensic evidence at all stages of a criminal investigation and for the storage of forensic evidence; and (4) require a local law enforcement agency to comply with those guidelines.

H.B. 3749 (Oliveira) – Mineral Rights: would grant certain protections to the owners of the surface estate of property.

H.B. 3757 (Callegari) – Rural and Small Community Initiatives: would work to coordinate rural and small community initiatives by: (1) authorizing the governor to designate an employee of the governor’s office as a state rural and small community coordinator; (2) providing for certain state agency employees to serve as a liaison to the coordinator; and (3) providing for a task force to develop and adopt a Texas Rural and Small Community Coordinated Plan. (Companion bill is S.B. 824 by Lucio.)

H.B. 3758 (Giddings) – Juveniles: would: (1) prohibit a police officer from requiring a student who is younger than twelve years of age to sign a citation issued to the student on school property during school hours; and (2) require a school administrator or teacher to sign on behalf of the student as a witness.

H.B. 3767 (Pitts) – Sales Tax: would expand the definition of “sale for resale” for sales tax purposes to include the sale of tangible personal property to a purchaser who acquires the property for the sole purpose of transferring it as an integral part of performing a contract with the federal government if the purchaser: (a) allocates the cost of the property to the contract; (b) bills the cost of the property to the federal government for reimbursement; and (c) transfers title to the property to the federal government under the contract. (Companion bill is S.B. 1721 by Duncan.)

H.B. 3768 (Pena) – EMS: would provide that an emergency medical services provider has a lien on a cause of action or claim of an individual who receives emergency medical service in a county with a population of one million or less for injuries caused by an accident that is attributed to the negligence of another person.

H.B. 3771 (Martinez) – Transportation: would, among other things, provide that: (1) the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will adopt provisions relating to the accommodation of pedestrians, bicyclists, and mass transit riders in transportation planning; and (2) a local authority – including a city – shall establish minimum guidelines in accordance with TxDOT plans to accommodate bicycles, pedestrians, and mass transit riders in all transportation planning, construction, reconstruction, street or highway improvements, and transportation facilities, including mass transit facilities.

H.B. 3773 (Pitts) – Municipal Court Fees: would: (1) transfer all municipal court fee collection and auditing duties from the comptroller’s office to the state Office of Court Administration; and (2) repeal the penalty prohibiting a city from withholding its ten percent of many state court fines if the city is not in compliance with state fee reporting and remitting rules.

H.B. 3784 (Callegari) – Financial Disclosure: would: (1) provide that, at the direction of the state’s legislative audit committee, the state auditor shall conduct an audit or investigation of a local governmental body – including a city; (2) require a city to file an accounting of its money with the state comptroller’s office; and (3) apply all state laws relating to the audit of state agencies to cities.

H.B. 3790 (Pitts) – State Fiscal Matters: This lengthy bill would, among other things, provide that: (1) notwithstanding any other statute, each state agency is authorized to reduce or recover expenditures by, among other things, adopting and collecting fees or charges to cover any costs the agency incurs in performing its lawful functions; (2) the governing board of a public retirement system shall make an annual contribution to the State Pension Review Board in an amount equal to 50 cents for each active member and annuitant of the retirement system as of September 1 of the year for which the contribution is made, payable in a lump sum; and (3) specify that the judicial and court personnel training fund is an account in the general revenue fund which may be appropriated only to the court of criminal appeals for judicial and court staff training and eliminate the current provision requiring any unexpended balance in excess of $500,000 at the end of each fiscal year to be transferred to the general revenue fund. (Companion bill is S.B. 1811 by Duncan.)

H.B. 3792 (Burnam) – Gas Pipelines: would provide that: (1) a city may establish conditions for mapping or taking an inventory of gas pipelines and related appurtenances, including pumps, compressors, separators, dehydration units, and tank batteries, located in an area in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction; (2) a city may adopt an ordinance that establishes conditions for mapping, inventorying, locating, or relocating pipelines and related appurtenances, including pumps, compressors, separators, dehydration units, and tank batteries, located within the city’s boundaries; and (3) a gas corporation may exercise eminent domain authority in relation to a municipal street or alley only with the consent of and subject to the direction of the governing body of the city.

H.B. 3793 (Phillips) – Transportation Funding: would, among other things: (1) provide that the sales and use taxes imposed on the sale, storage, or use of new and used motor vehicle tires and new and used motor vehicle parts shall be deposited to the credit of the state highway fund; and (2) eliminate the funding of the Department of Public Safety from money in the state highway fund. (Note: please see H.J.R 157, below.)

H.B. 3795 (Elkins) – Public Funds Investment: would require each governing body to invest a minimum of five percent of their total portfolio in Texas-based, publicly-traded corporations.

H.B. 3801 (S. Davis) – Public Information: would: (1) allow a current or former city employee or official elect to allow or disallow public access to a personal cellular telephone number, personal e-mail address, or date of birth; (2) allow a city employee or official to elect to allow or disallow public access to personal information at any time during the employee’s or official’s service with the city; (3) require a former employee or officer of the city to state the person’s choice to allow or disallow public access to personal information within 14 days of ending service with the city; (4) would make the date of birth of a living person confidential, and allow a city to redact an individual’s date of birth from any requested information without the necessity of requesting a decision from the attorney general.

H.J.R. 7 (Bohac) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to authorize the legislature to allow the city council of a city in Harris County to reduce the property tax appraisal cap on homesteads from ten percent to five percent.

H.J.R. 9 (Farias) – Sales Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to use the revenue generated by a tax imposed on certain sweetened beverages for the promotion of children’s health programs.

H.J.R. 10 (Farias) – Sales Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to use forty-percent of the revenue generated by a tax imposed on certain sweetened beverages for the promotion of children’s health programs, with the remainder to the credit of the general revenue fund.

H.J.R. 11 (Farias) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to limit the maximum appraised value of a residence homestead for property tax purposes to an amount that is less than the appraised value, but not less than the amount that the owner of the residence homestead paid for the property.

H.J.R. 15 (Rodriguez) – Transportation Funding: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that: (2) the net revenue from the portions of the rates of motor fuels sales taxes that exceed the rates of those taxes in effect on January 1, 2011, shall be used for the sole purpose of designing, constructing, and maintaining public roadways; (2) the state shall impose the motor fuels taxes at the rate of 30 cents per gallon by increasing the tax by two cents per gallon each year until August 1, 2020; (3) beginning August 1, 2020, and not later than August 1 of each subsequent year, the comptroller shall revise the rates of the motor fuels taxes in effect on August 1 by applying a percentage change to the rates equal to the most recent annual change in the consumer price index; and (4) in any case, the legislature may raise the rate of the tax or modify or repeal the tax.

H.J.R. 131 (Rodriguez) – Transportation Funding: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that, subject to legislative appropriation, allocation, and direction: (1) three-fourths of the net revenue that is remaining after payment of all refunds allowed by law and expenses of collection that is derived from taxes on motor fuels and lubricants used to propel motor vehicles over public highways – and on new and used motor vehicle tires and new and used motor vehicle part – shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and maintaining public highways and for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and operating passenger rail, transit, and freight rail.

H.J.R. 134 (Oliveira) – County Development Authority: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that a county may exercise limited ordinance-making authority for the purpose of regulating land development in the unincorporated area of the county if approved by a majority vote of the county voters and that regulations adopted after the election may include regulations relating to land use compatibility, public safety and fire hazards, land density, and use or conservation of water and other natural resources.

H.J.R. 135 (Phillips) – Religion: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that the government may not directly, indirectly, or incidentally, substantially burden an individual’s or a religious organization’s conduct that is based on a sincerely held religious belief, unless the government is acting further a compelling government interest and using the least restrictive available means to do so.

H.J.R. 137 (Ritter) – State Water Plan: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that: (1) if the legislature requires the Texas Water Development Board to adopt a state water plan, the legislature shall provide for the imposition by the state of one or more fees, the proceeds of which must be deposited to the credit of a special fund in the state treasury to be known as the state water implementation fund for Texas, funds in which may be used only to fund projects included in the state water plan; and (2) the Texas Water Development Board may issue general obligation bonds, at its determination and on a continuing basis, for one or more accounts of the Texas Water Development Fund in amounts such that the aggregate principal amount of the bonds issued by the board that are outstanding at any time does not exceed $6 billion.

H.J.R. 138 (Ritter) – State Water Plan: would amend the Texas Constitution to: (1) create the state water implementation fund for Texas in the state treasury to provide a method for financing projects included in the State Water Plan; (2) provide that the legislature: (a) shall provide for the imposition by the state of a fee or tax, the proceeds of which must be deposited to the credit of the fund and may provide for the deposit of other sources of revenue to the credit of the fund; and (b) may prescribe the manner in which money in the fund may be used; and (3) provide that a law dedicating revenue to the fund prevails over any law enacted in the same session of the legislature that purports to abolish dedications of revenue in the state treasury for a particular purpose, regardless of the relative dates of enactment. (Note: please see H.B. 3273, above.)

H.J.R. 139 (Schwertner) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that: (1) in order to qualify for a property tax freeze for the elderly or disabled adopted by a city, and individual’s residence homestead must both qualify: (a) for either the mandatory exemption of an additional $10,000 by the school district or an optional exemption of at least an additional $3,000 by any other taxing unit; and (b) for either the mandatory $3,000 exemption by the county for all homeowners or the optional exemption of up to 20 percent of value by any other taxing unit for all homeowners; and (2) if an individual who qualifies for either a mandatory exemption of an additional $10,000 by the school district or an optional exemption of at least an additional $3,000 by any other taxing unit dies in the first year in which the individual qualified for the exemption, the surviving spouse of the individual is entitled to a property tax freeze if one has been adopted by a city. (Note: please see H.B. 3315, above.)

H.J.R. 142 (White) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution prohibit a political subdivision from imposing property taxes and expand the applicability of state and local sales and use taxes to replace property tax revenue.

H.J.R. 146 (V. Taylor) – Automatic Resignation: would amend the Texas Constitution by repealing the resign to run provisions applicable to certain county, city, or district officeholders. (Companion resolution is S.J.R. 37 by Van de Putte.)

H.J.R. 150 (Kleinschmidt) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to allow the legislature to provide that the chief appraiser of an appraisal district serve a term not to exceed four years.

H.J.R. 156 (C. Howard) – Property Tax: would amend the Texas Constitution to 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.J.R. 157 (Phillips) – Transportation Funding: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that, subject to legislative appropriation, allocation, and direction: (1) the net revenue that is remaining after payment of all refunds allowed by law and expenses of collection that is derived from motor vehicle registration and on new and used motor vehicle tires and new and used motor vehicle parts shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and maintaining public highways; (2) three fourths of the net revenue from the motor fuel tax shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and maintaining public highways, and one-fourth of the net revenue shall be allocated to school funding; and (3) for a biennium, the legislature may not appropriate funds derived from the revenue described (1) and (2), above, for a purpose other than acquiring rights-of-way or constructing or maintaining public roadways in an amount that exceeds the lesser of: (a) the total amount of those funds appropriated for a purpose other than acquiring rights-of-way or constructing or maintaining public roadways in the preceding biennium; or (b) the maximum amount that may be appropriated under (a), above, reduced by 25 percent from the preceding biennium if the estimate of anticipated revenue from all sources made in advance of the regular session for the biennium exceeds the total amount of revenue from all sources for the preceding biennium by more than three times the amount of the reduction. (Note: please see H.B. 3793, above.)

S.B. 13 (Huffman) – Litigation: would: (1) state that a statute does not create a cause of action unless the statute does so in clear and unambiguous language; (2) limit the recovery of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party; (3) add deposition costs to the list of litigation costs that can be recovered; and (4) require the Supreme Court of Texas to adopt rules for the early dismissal of civil actions.

S.B. 15 (Fraser) – State Energy Policy: would create the Texas Energy Policy Council to develop and present a statewide energy policy plan to the legislature that includes information relating to electric transmission, energy efficiency technology, energy reserves, and the environment.

S.B. 20 (Williams) – Clean Air: would create grant programs to: (1) replace on-road heavy-duty motor vehicles with equivalent natural gas vehicles; and (2) make natural gas fueling stations available on the routes between Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas/Fort Worth.

S.B. 552 (Carona) – Energy Efficiency: would, among many other things: (1) establish the state-level Energy Efficiency Council (EEC); (2) provide that the EEC shall collect information regarding energy savings and demand reduction by reviewing energy efficiency programs in the state and submit the information collected to the Texas A&M energy systems laboratory, the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas; (3) authorize an area emissions reduction organization to establish an energy efficiency market emission reduction credit program through which a utility, municipal utility, electric cooperative, or state or local government may register savings from that entity’s energy efficiency measures as emission reduction credits and sell or trade the credits in an effort to reduce emissions of air pollutants in urban areas of this state; (4) provide that, to achieve energy conservation in the construction of, renovations to, and additions to all residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in this state, SECO, in consultation with the Texas A&M energy systems laboratory, shall adopt the International Energy Conservation Code, as published at the end of each three-year code development cycle, as the minimum requirements for those buildings; (5) provide that SECO shall set an effective date for an energy code adopted under (4), above, that is not later than nine months after publication of a new edition of the code at the end of each three-year code development cycle of the International Energy Conservation Code; (6) mandate that a city establish procedures for the administration and enforcement of the code, to ensure that code-certified inspectors shall perform inspections and enforce the code in the inspectors’ jurisdictions, and to track and report to SECO on implementation of the code; (7) provide that a city’s report must include a description of the measures taken to enforce the most recently adopted version of the International Energy Conservation Code and an assessment of the rate of compliance; (8) provide that a city or county may establish procedures to adopt local amendments to the International Energy Conservation Code; (9) require the energy systems laboratory to: (a) provide to counties and cities suggestions for modifications to the code to increase energy efficiency by 15 percent above the efficiency achieved under the unamended code; (b) provide technical assistance to a local government considering whether to adopt the suggested modifications; (c) report its findings to the council, county, or city, including an estimate based on suggested local amendments of any energy savings potential above the unamended code and any resulting reduction in the emission of air pollutants; and (10) beginning April 1, 2012, provide that a municipally owned utility must report each year to SECO information regarding the combined effects of the energy efficiency activities of the utility from the previous calendar year, including the utility’s annual goals, programs enacted to achieve those goals, and any achieved energy demand or savings goals.

S.B. 657 (Huffman) – TCEQ: this bill is the same as H.B. 2694, above.

S.B. 658 (Huffman) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2605 by L. Taylor.)

S.B. 660 (Hinojosa) – Texas Water Development Board: this bill is the same as H.B. 3530, above.

S.B. 661 (Nichols) – Public Utility Commission: would extend the Public Utility Commission for 12 years, and make various administrative changes to the commission. Of particular interest to cities, the bill would transfer jurisdiction over water rates and services, and certificates of convenience and necessity, from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to the commission.

S.B. 665 (Hinojosa) – Department of Housing and Community Affairs: this bill is the same as H.B. 2608, above.

S.B. 666 (Hinojosa) – Fire Hydrants: would provide that: (1) each public water system responsible for any hydrant (e.g., a fire hydrant or a metal flush valve that looks like a fire hydrant) shall: (a) paint all or the cap of the hydrant white if the hydrant is available to be used only to fill a water tank on a fire truck used for fire suppression services; and (b) paint all or the cap of the hydrant black if the hydrant is unavailable for use by the entity providing fire suppression services in a fire emergency; (2) a hydrant is unavailable for use in a fire emergency if it is unavailable for pumping directly from the hydrant or is unavailable for use in filling a water tank on a fire truck used for fire suppression services; (3) a public water system may place a black tarp over the hydrant or use another means to conceal the hydrant instead of painting all or the cap of the hydrant black if the hydrant is temporarily unavailable for use in a fire emergency for a period not to exceed 45 days; (4) not later than the 45th day after the date a hydrant is concealed, the public water system responsible for the hydrant shall, depending on its status, remove the tarp or other means of concealment paint all or the cap of the hydrant black; (5) the bill’s provisions do not apply within the jurisdiction of a governmental entity that maintains its own system for labeling or color coding its hydrants to any public water system that has entered into a contract with a city or volunteer fire department to provide a water supply for fire suppression services if the contract specifies a different system for labeling or color coding hydrants; (6) the fact that all or the cap of a hydrant for which a public water system is responsible is not painted black or concealed does not constitute a guarantee by the public water system that the hydrant will deliver a certain amount of water flow at all times; and (7) a public water system is not liable for a hydrant’s inability to provide adequate water supply in a fire emergency.

S.B. 1101 (Wentworth) – Professional Services: would provide that a governmental entity (not including a city), may not provide through its officers or employees a commercially available service (e.g., the practice of engineering or architecture, construction services, or construction management services) for an improvement to real property that is not owned or leased by the entity.

S.B. 1258 (Duncan) – Solid Waste: would provide that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may issue a permit by rule to authorize the governing body of a county or city with a population of 10,000 or less to dispose of demolition waste from an abandoned building or building found to be a nuisance if the disposal occurs on land that: (1) the county or city owns or controls; and (2) would qualify for an arid exemption under commission rules. (Companion bill is H.B. 2013 by Hardcastle.)

S.B. 1265 (Uresti) -- 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2369 by Quintanilla).

S.B. 1274 (Williams) – Roofing Contractors: would provide: (1) that a person may not perform or offer to perform roofing services unless the person holds a certificate issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; (2) detailed procedures and penalties; and (3) exempt an authorized employee or representative of a city from the bill’s requirements.

S.B. 1276 (Williams) – 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.

S.B. 1288 (Watson) – Property Tax: would instruct the state comptroller to study the feasibility of a property tax “circuit breaker” law. (Circuit breakers are defined in the bill as limitations on a residential homestead property taxes based on the owner’s annual income.)

S.B. 1289 (Watson) – Photo Identification: would require all health care professionals, including an emergency services providers, to wear a photo identification badge at all times unless sterilization or isolation protocols preclude it.

S.B. 1294 (Hegar) – Railroad Commission Fines: would raise the limits on various fines that may be imposed by the Texas Railroad Commission.

S.B. 1309 (Hinojosa) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2435 by Deshotel.)

S.B. 1321 (Hinojosa) – Vehicle Towing: this bill is the same as H.B. 3334, above.

S.B. 1323 (Watson) – Transportation: would provide a procedure whereby a political subdivision that participates financially in certain Texas Department of Transportation projects may assist with, and expedite, the environmental review process.

S.B. 1330 (Watson) – Driver Education Courses: this bill is the same as H.B. 2897, above.

S.B. 1331 (Watson) – Juveniles: would create an exception to the offense of consumption of alcohol by a minor in certain situations where the minor requested emergency medical assistance in response to the possible alcohol overdose of a minor.

S.B. 1337 (Van de Putte) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2093 by Thompson.)

S.B. 1341 (Seliger) – Property Tax: would provide that: (1) a taxing unit may not be made a party to a suit to compel the appraisal review board to order a change in an appraisal roll; (2) the movant in a suit to compel an appraisal review board to order a change in an appraisal roll must mail notice of a hearing to the collector for each taxing unit that imposes taxes on the property at issue; and (3) a taxing unit that imposes taxes on the property at issue may intervene in a suit filed to compel an appraisal review board to order a change in an appraisal roll for the limited purpose of determining whether the property owner has forfeited a remedy due to the nonpayment of taxes. (Companion bill is H.B. 1435 by Elkins.)

S.B. 1345 (Davis) – Sales Tax: would repeal the state law prohibiting the state comptroller from crediting to the Parks and Wildlife Department or the Texas Historical Commission any amount of taxes imposed on the sale of sporting goods in excess of the amounts appropriated to the department or commission, respectively. (Companion bill is H.B. 1628 by Larson.)

S.B. 1346 (Davis) – Transportation Funding: would provide that the Texas Department of Transportation shall send each fee collected for a permit issued by the department for oversize and overweight vehicle permits, including administrative, highway maintenance, and vehicle supervision fees, to the comptroller for deposit to the credit of the state highway fund.

S.B. 1354 (Carona) – County Sign Authority: would give a county the authority to prohibit new off-premise signs in the unincorporated areas of the county. (Companion bill is H.B. 1360 by Coleman.)

S.B. 1358 (Lucio) – Emergency Detention: would authorize a judge or magistrate who issues a warrant for emergency detention to electronically transmit the warrant with a digital signature as defined by state law.

S.B. 1362 (Lucio) – County Development Authority: this bill is the same as H.B. 3394, above. (Note: please see S.J.R. 40, below.)

S.B. 1363 (Lucio) – County Development Authority: this bill is the same as H.B. 3114, above.

S.B. 1364 (Lucio) – Colonias: this bill is the same as H.B. 3115, above.

S.B. 1366 (West) – Sex Offender Registration: would, among several other changes to the sex offender registry program: (1) prohibit a city from adopting an ordinance that restricts the location of the residence of an individual who is required to register as a sex offender; and (2) limit the current registered sex offender database Web site to law enforcement and other governmental entities and create a separate Web site for the public with information about registered sex offenders, which would include only information regarding offenders with a risk level of two or higher.

S.B. 1369 (West) –Public Improvement Districts: this bill is the same as H.B. 3690, above.

S.B. 1371 (Carona) – Vehicle Towing: this bill is the same as H.B. 3510, above.

S.B. 1375 (Estes) – Local Option Elections: would provide that, if a city annexes area on or after the date a local option liquor election petition is submitted, the city may hold the election only if the petition has enough signatures after including the voters in the annexed area. (Companion bill is H.B. 1401 by Laubenberg.)

S.B. 1376 (Shapiro) – Radar Interference Device: would make it a Class C misdemeanor offense for a person, other than a law enforcement officer in the discharge of his official duties, to use a radar interference device in a motor vehicle. (Companion bill is H.B. 1116 by Harper-Brown.)

S.B. 1382 (Wentworth) – Litigation: would expand the liability of a city in a contract dispute by allowing parties prevailing against a city to be awarded interest on disputed payments. (Companion bill is H.B. 345 by Kleinschmidt.)

S.B. 1384 (Lucio) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2218 by Oliviera.)

S.B. 1385 (Lucio) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2208 by Oliviera.)

S.B. 1386 (Lucio) – Motor Vehicles: 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2204 by Oliveira).

S.B. 1389 (Gallegos) – Construction Safety: would provide that: (1) to the extent consistent with federal law, a governmental entity – including a city – that enters into a construction contract must require that the contractor ensure that all employees working on the general construction site have completed construction safety training, as shown by a certificate of training completion for the employee; and (2) a governmental entity shall include in the contract various notice and penalty provisions.

S.B. 1391 (Gallegos) – Loans: this bill is the same as H.B. 2713, above.

S.B. 1392 (Lucio) – County Development Authority/Municipal Building Codes: this bill is the same as H.B. 3190, above.

S.B. 1393 (Seliger) – Electricity: would add “electricity” to the definition of the term personal property in the Public Finance Act, which allows governing body of a governmental agency to execute, perform, and make payments under a contract with any person for the use or the purchase or other acquisition of any personal property, or the financing thereof.

S.B. 1395 (Williams) – State Infrastructure Bank: this bill is the same as H.B. 3218, above.

S.B. 1398 (Patrick) – Elections: this bill is the same as H.B. 3158, above.

S.B. 1399 (D. Patrick) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2530 by Legler.)

S.B. 1402 (Williams) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2357 by Pickett.)

S.B. 1406 (Hinojosa) – County Development Authority: would provide that a county may by order establish minimum standards for property maintenance in the unincorporated area of the county and establish limitations, procedures, and enforcement authority relating to the standards.

S.B. 1411 (Hegar) – Sales Tax: this bill is the same as H.B. 2782, above.

S.B. 1412 (Hegar) – On-Site Sewage Disposal Systems: would: (1) authorize certain commercial developments to permit small commercial development sewage collection, treatment, and disposal systems as on-site sewage disposal systems; (2) require that such systems be recorded with the county; and (3) placing joint and several responsibility for maintenance and permit violations on the owners of the units served by the system.

S.B. 1419 (Hinojosa) – DNA Lab: would provide that the Texas Forensic Science Commission must establish a DNA lab audit program to conduct periodic unannounced audits of DNA labs and provide procedures to implement the bill.

S.B. 1420 (Hinojosa) – Department of Transportation: this bill is the same as H.B. 2675, above.

H.B. 1428 (Ogden) – Transportation Finance Zones: would provide that: (1) the Texas Transportation Commission may designate a transportation finance zone that is adjacent to the right-of-way of an existing or proposed state highway project and within two miles on either side of the centerline of the state highway; (2) the designation of a zone is not effective until the legislature has reviewed and approved the designation and boundaries of the zone; (3) the proceeds from the collection of state sales and use taxes imposed in a zone shall be deposited in the state infrastructure bank or similar revolving fund authorized by law, to be used for the repayment of financial assistance provided from the revolving fund for highway projects; (4) the proceeds from the collection of taxes deposited to the credit of a revolving fund may only be used for the repayment of financial assistance provided to the Texas Department of Transportation for tolled or non-tolled highway projects within the zone ( and may not be used to provide financial assistance for a project developed, constructed, or operated by a private entity under a comprehensive development agreement); and (5) in any state fiscal year, the comptroller may not deposit more than $250 million to the credit of a revolving fund. (Note: please see S.J.R. 42, below.)

S.B. 1440 (Ellis) – 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. (Companion bill is H.B. 2220 by Y. Davis.)

S.B. 1442 (Shapiro) – Permit Vesting: this bill is the same as H.B. 2732, above.

S.B. 1445 (Zaffirini) – Elections: would require a political report to include the purchase price and amount of proceeds received from a sale of an investment purchased during the reporting period with money received as a political contribution or interest earned on political contributions.

S.B. 1450 (Zaffirini) – Precious Metals Dealers: would, among other things, provide that the governing body of a city may license, tax, suppress, prevent, or otherwise regulate cash-for-gold establishments.

S.B. 1451 (Zaffirini) – Political Expenditures: would allow a corporation or labor organization to make a direct campaign expenditure for a public office.

S.B. 1460 (Harris) – Energy Savings Contracts: would: (1) authorize a contract for the installation or implementation of energy savings equipment in new or existing facilities; and (2) provide that the governing body of a local government may use any available money, other than money borrowed from the state, to pay the provider of the energy or water conservation measures; and (3) provide that the governing body is not required to pay for energy or water conservation measures solely out of the savings realized under an energy saving performance contract. (Companion bill is H.B. 1728 by Keffer.)

S.B. 1461 (Lucio) – Disaster Reconstruction: would: (1) create the disaster reconstruction coordination office in the office of the governor; (2) create a task force that would advise the disaster reconstruction coordination office that would include two officials from small cities; and (3) create the disaster contingency fund.

S.B. 1467 (Lucio) – Coin-Operated Machines: would increase the occupation tax that cities may impose on certain coin-operated machines and require the city treasurer to distribute half the revenue collected to the municipal tax assessor-collector to offset the costs of assessing and collecting the tax.

S.B. 1471 (Hinojosa) – Scrap Tires: would, before a land reclamation project using scrap tires may begin, require: (1) a permit for the project from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); (2) notice to the governing body of a city if the project is located in its corporate limits or ETJ; and (3) comments or suggestions from the city’s governing body to the TCEQ regarding the project.

S.B. 1473 (Hinojosa) – Expunction of Arrest Records: this bill is the same as H.B. 2889, above.

S.B. 1482 (Wentworth) – Property Tax: would make a property tax lien inferior to a perfected purchase-money security interest. (Companion bill is H.B. 2409 by Kuempel.)

S.B. 1485 (West) – School Bus Cameras: would: (1) authorize a school district to implement a school bus monitoring system that takes live or recorded images, including images of vehicles that pass a stopped school bus; (2) allow for the imposition of a civil penalty for the offense of passing a stopped school bus and provide other penalties for failure to comply with the bill; and (3) establish procedures for the implementation of the system including authorization for a school district to enter into an interlocal agreement with a city regarding administrative hearings required under the bill.

S.B. 1489 (Whitmire) – Truancy: would: (1) require a police officer serving as an attendance officer to file a complaint against a student in municipal or justice court if the student has a certain number of absences and the student is seventeen years of age or older; (2) create additional situations where a complaint against the parent of a truant child under the age of seventeen must be filed in justice or municipal court; and (3) remove most failure to attend school cases for students under the age of seventeen to juvenile courts.

S.B. 1494 (Uresti) – Municipal Records: would require the officer or employee responsible for maintaining the records of the city to notify the Texas Judicial Council of the name of each person who is elected or appointed as presiding officer of the city, municipal court judge, or clerk of a municipal court, not later than the thirtieth day after the person’s election or appointment.

S.B. 1505 (Uresti) – Property Tax: would change the method by which a real property interest in oil and gas in place is appraised by: (1) using the average price of the oil or gas interest for the preceding two calendar years; and (2) eliminating the comptroller-computed market condition factor multiplier. (Companion bill is H.B. 889 by Lewis.)

S.B. 1506 (Uresti) – Property Tax: would change the method by which a real property interest in oil and gas in place is appraised by using actual price data, as available, and market-based data and a market-based methodology to calculate the statewide average price for oil or gas.

S.B. 1517 (Van de Putte) – Animal Control: would: (1) authorize a city to enact more stringent sterilization requirements than state; (2) exempt certain animals from state sterilization requirements; (3) require that dog and cat owners have their animals sterilized subject to limited exemptions; and (4) require a local animal control authority to issue intact animal permits to owners of animals that are exempt from state sterilization requirements.

S.B. 1519 (Uresti) – Sales Tax: this bill is same as H.B. 3411, above.

S.B. 1521 (Uresti) – Municipal Court Building Security Fund: would authorize the use of funds from a city’s municipal court building security fund for warrant officers and related equipment.

S.B. 1526 (Hinojosa) – Municipal Court: would, among other provisions: (1) require a either party in a criminal case before a municipal court to disclose, as soon as practicable after receiving a timely request from the other party, most evidence pertaining to a criminal case to the other party’s attorney; (2) require the court to permit an attorney representing the parties to make copies of the evidence; (3) permit the city to assert exceptions to required disclosure that is believed to be confidential by law; (4) require a municipal prosecutor to supplement or amend this information as needed; (5) require a defendant who intends to use an alibi defense to file a good faith notice of intent to raise the defense with the court; (6) permit a court to enter a protective order restricting a specific disclosure or permit an in camera review of the documents; (7) create sanctions for violation of the disclosure requirements. (Companion is H.B. 1647 by Gallego.)

S.B. 1527 (Hinojosa) – Property Tax: would provide that either an opinion by an independent auditor and licensed certified public accountant included in an audit, or a determination of tax-exempt status by the United States Internal Revenue Service of a community housing development organization or other organization constructing or rehabilitating low-income housing, is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in the opinion or determination for purposes of determining tax exempt status. (Companion bill is H.B. 1576 by Garza.)

S.B. 1528 (Hinojosa) – Property Tax: would: (1) provide that the legal owner of property that is not a public facility corporation is exempt from property taxation if: (a) a public facility corporation owns 100 percent of the legal owner of the property; or (b) the legal owner of the property is exclusively controlled by the corporation and is organized under state law, has its principal place of business in this state, and has equitable title to the property; (2) provide that property owned by a public facility corporation is exempt from property taxes if the property is owned by a tax credit partnership or limited liability company and the general partner or member is controlled by a public facility corporation. (Companion bill is H.B. 2000 by Garza.)

S.B. 1529 (Hinojosa) – Law Enforcement: would require a police department to report an arrest to the Texas Department of Public Safety not later than the second day after the arrest.

S.B. 1537 (Watson) – Fiscal Notes: would: (1) require a state agency to assign an estimated dollar amount for any cost to a state or local government in enforcing or administering a proposed rule; and (2) prohibit a state agency from determining the cost to a state or local government of administering a proposed rule is insignificant because the state or local government can pass on the cost to a customer or other third party associated with the proposed rule.

S.B. 1539 (Watson) – Renewable Energy: would provide that: (1) It is the intent of the legislature that by January 1, 2015, an additional 5,000 megawatts of generating capacity from renewable energy technologies will have been installed in this state; (2) the cumulative installed renewable capacity in this state shall total 5,880 megawatts by January 1, 2015, and the Public Utility Commission shall establish a goal of 10,000 megawatts of installed renewable capacity by January 1, 2025; (3) the cumulative installed renewable capacity in this state shall total 5,256 megawatts by January 1, 2013, and 5,880 megawatts by January 1, 2015; and (4) a certain amount of that technology must include generating capacity other than wind energy technologies.

S.B. 1542 (Watson) – Governmental Immunity: would waive governmental immunity for a city or other governmental entity in a suit where a nurse alleges the city took adverse employment action against the nurse in retaliation for a report required by state laws governing nurse conduct. (Companion bill is H.B. 884 by Howard).

S.B. 1546 (Patrick) – Property Tax: would: (1) require an appraisal review board to reschedule a tax appeal hearing if the property owner or agent fails to attend due to human error; and (2) require the comptroller to appoint a peer review committee to review and respond to property tax complaints.

S.B. 1553 (Rodriguez) – Public Housing: this bill is the same as H.B. 2737, above.

S.B. 1558 (Carona) – Purchasing: would provide that: (1) if a change order involves a decrease or an increase of $50,000 or less and is for work within the original bid, the governing body may authorize an administrative official of the municipality to approve the change order; (2) a governing body may authorize an official or employee responsible for purchasing or administering a contract to approve a change order that involves a change of $50,000 or less; and (3) similar changes shall apply to civic center authorities and certain other local governmental entities. (Companion bill is H.B. 679 by Button.)

S.B. 1565 (Ellis) – Litigation: this bill is the same as H.B. 2973, above.

S.B. 1570 (Estes) – Sale of Leased Land: would: (1) authorize governmental entities, including cities, to sell surplus land that it owns to a person leasing the land without notice or bid and prohibit a governmental entity from selling the land to any other person except a bulk purchaser; (2) exempt the sale of a leased tract from platting requirements; (3) exempt the sale of an individual leased tract from various requirements including chapter 272 of the Local Government Code (which generally governs the sale of city property); (4) authorize a governmental entity to suspend a lessee’s right to purchase leased land in order to pursue a bulk sale of the leased land; (5) provide for the method of purchase and valuation of the land; (6) require that certain roads be transferred to the county; and (7) provide a procedure for a lessee to purchase the leased tract from the bulk purchaser. (Companion bill is H.B. 1729by Keffer.)

S.B. 1571 (Watson) – Public Information: would: (1) change the definition of “public information” to include: (a) information that is created, possessed, used and relied upon under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any person, including a government agency, board, or institution or an individual, corporation or other business entity, or nonprofit that performs a public function, provides research or consulting services, or conducts a study at the request of a governmental body; and (b) information stored in electronic format that contains public documents, public records, or a communication of official business, regardless of whether it is stored on a server or in a computer facility owned or maintained by a governmental body; (2) define, for purposes of the Public Information Act (PIA), the terms “administer,” and “public function;” (3) provide that the term “public funds” for purposes of the PIA includes funds received from the federal government or from intergovernmental transfers; and (4) require that a contract between a governmental entity that receives state funds and business entity or nonprofit to perform a public function involving the exchange or creation of public information must be drafted in consideration of the requirements of the PIA.

S.B. 1577 (Ellis) – Hotel Occupancy Tax: would define “price” for purposes of the amount paid for a hotel room as the retail price paid by a person for right to use or posses the room, including any booking, handling, or similar fee or charge paid by or on behalf of the person. (Companion bill is H.B. 1454 by Murphy.)

S.B. 1583 (Ogden) – Law Enforcement: would: (1) make changes to the way that grants are allocated by the Automobile Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority, including changing from distribution based on geographic rates of auto theft to statewide rates; and (2) authorize the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to set and collect a reasonable fee to cover the cost of performing any re-inspection of a municipal jail operated for a city by a private vendor as required by state law.

S.B. 1593 (Wentworth) – Law Enforcement: would prohibit the admission of any evidence obtained solely as the direct result of a request made in good faith for emergency medical services in response to a person’s possible overdose of alcohol or of a controlled substance in order to show that a person was intoxicated or possessed or consumed alcohol or a controlled substance.

S.B. 1595 (Wentworth) – Sales Tax: this bill is the same as H.B. 2760, above.

S.B. 1600 (Whitmire) -- Private Security Officers: would expand the exemptions for individuals from the requirements for private security officers if the individual: (1) a peace officer; and (2) is employed by a company licensed as a private security company.

S.B. 1606 (Seliger) – Groundwater: would: (1) require the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to work with groundwater conservation district to adopt rules that would require all owners or operators of any well, including wells exempt from permitting under other statute, to report groundwater withdrawals using reasonable and appropriate reporting methods and frequency; (2) require groundwater withdrawals to be reported annually to the groundwater conservation district or, where no district is established, directly to the TWDB.

S.B. 1612 (Ogden) – Texas Municipal Retirement System: would: (1) repeal the law that allows a city to issue obligations to fund its retirement benefits; (2) require a public retirement system, including the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS), to pay the State Pension Review Board fifty cents annually for each member account; and (3) allow the pension review board to require TMRS or other public retirement systems to complete an actuarial experience study every five years.

S.B. 1613 (Ogden) – Electric Utilities: would: (1) repeal the current definition of “competitive matter” relating to public power utilities; (2) define a “competitive matter,” which can be deliberated by a public power utility in a closed meeting and is not generally subject to public disclosure, as a matter reasonably related to: (a) generation unit specific and portfolio fixed and variable costs, capital improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit operating characteristics and outage scheduling; (b) bidding and pricing information for purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) bids, prices, offers, and related services and strategies; (c) effective fuel and purchased power agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts; (d) risk management information, contracts, and strategies, including fuel hedging and storage; (e) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission and distribution system improvements inside the service area for which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail provider; and (f) customer billing, contract, and usage information, electric power pricing information, system load characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and strategies; and (3) would provide that a “competitive matter,” may not be deemed to include, among other things: (a) any tariff of general applicability regarding rates and other matters; (b) salaries and total compensation of all employees of a public power utility; or (c) information publicly released by the ERCOT to a law, rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market participants.

S.B. 1615 (West) – Sexting: would: (1) create the offense of electronic transmission of certain visual material depicting a minor; (2) provide that is an affirmative defense to prosecution of the offense described in (1), above, if the defendant, among other things, reports receipt of the material to a law enforcement agency not later than 48 hours after receiving the visual material from another minor; and (3) allow courts, including a municipal court, to order a defendant guilty of the offense described in (1), above, to attend and complete an educational program about the consequences of the offense and require the defendant or the defendant’s parent to pay the cost of the program if financially able.

S.B. 1616 (West) – Evidence: would require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to adopt rules: (1) relating to a law enforcement agency that collects, stores, preserves, or retrieves any biological evidence in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a felony offense specifying how the evidence must be retained, for how long it must be retained, and procedures involved; and (2) authorizing a county with population of less than 100,000 to promptly deliver such evidence to DPS for storage.

S.B. 1632 (Birdwell) – 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.

S.B. 1636 (Davis) – Evidence: would: (1) require a law enforcement agency that receives sexual assault evidence to submit that evidence to an accredited crime laboratory for analysis not later than the tenth day after it is received; and (2) would require a laboratory to complete its analysis of sexual assault evidence not later than the ninetieth day after it is received. (Companion bill is H.B. 3147 by McClendon.)

S.B. 1638 (Davis) – Public Information: would: (1) authorize an employee or official of a governmental body and each former employee or official to choose whether to allow public access to their emergency contact information; (2) except emergency contact information from public disclosure for certain employees, officers, and former employees and officers; (3) make emergency contact information confidential and not subject to public disclosure for certain officers and employees; (4) except from public disclosure a motor vehicle operator’s or driver’s license or permit and a motor vehicle title or registration issued by another state or country; and (5) make a photocopy or other copy of an identification badge issued to an official or employee of a governmental body confidential.

S.B. 1641 (W. Davis) – Gas Drilling: would require the Texas Railroad Commission to conduct certain hearings relating to gas wells in the Barnett Shale in that area.

S.B. 1647 (Uresti) – Property Tax: would provide that if revenues from a producing mineral interest are held by an entity other than the legal owner of the interest, then the property taxes due on the interest shall be paid by the entity which holds the funds.

S.B. 1654 (Watson) – Procurement: this bill is the same as H.B. 2729, above.

S.B. 1659 (Lucio) – Fire Suppression: would authorize a water supply or sewer service organization to provide a water supply to a city or volunteer fire department for use in fire suppression. (Companion bill is H.B. 1814 by Lucio.)

S.B. 1673 (Gallegos) -- Texas Commission on Fire Protection: This bill is the same as H.B. 3735, above.

S.B. 1675 (Duncan) – Elections: this bill is the same as H.B. 3497, above.

S.B. 1676 (Ellis) -- Peace Officer Training: This bill is the same bill as H.B. 2823, above.

S.B. 1677 (Ellis) – Municipal Court Building Security Fund: would increase the optional municipal court building security fee to $4. (Companion bill is H.B. 904 by Thompson.)

S.B. 1678 (Ellis) – Municipal Court: would increase the amount a city may collect under the municipal court technology fee to $5. (Companion is H.B. 1261 by Thompson.)

S.B. 1690 (Lucio) – Water Utility Financial Assistance: would, among other related provisions, authorize the Texas Water Development Board to require a city applying for financial assistance in order to provide service to an economically distressed area to provide a written determination by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on the city’s capability to plan, build, and operate the system for which assistance is being requested.
S.B. 1691 (Lucio) – Housing: would establish a rural housing land assemblage program to allow participating cities and counties to enter into interlocal agreements to acquire, hold, and transfer real property for the purpose of providing affordable housing for low-income households.

S.B. 1692 (Lucio) – City Budget: would require the comptroller to provide on its Internet Web site a link to the Web site of each city that contains budget information for the city.

S.B. 1693 (Carona) – Streamlined Electric Ratemaking: this bill is the same as H.B. 3610, above.

S.B. 1695 (Williams) – Gangs: would expand the situations in which a person may be prosecuted for engaging in organized criminal activity relating to street gangs.

S.B. 1701 (Williams) – Forfeiture: would: (1) provide that a rebuttable presumption that property is subject to forfeiture is established if the state shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture occurred and the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture is the only likely source or explanation for that property; (2) prohibit a court from suppressing evidence solely because it is acquired pursuant to a search or seizure that violates the right of the owner or interest holder; and (3) authorize a court to order the forfeiture of substitute assets, that otherwise are not subject to forfeiture, if the court finds that property that has been forfeited cannot be located, has been transferred, conveyed or sold to a third-party, has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court, has been substantially diminished in value, or has been commingled with other property and cannot be separated.

S.B. 1713 (Whitmire) – Crime Victim’s Fund: would allow the use of the compensation to victims of crime fund to reimburse the reasonable costs of a forensic medical exam for family violence.

S.B. 1721 (Duncan) – Sales Tax: this bill is the same as H.B. 3767, above.

S.B. 1737 (Van de Putte) -- Employee Leave: would allow an individual who is eligible for paid leave for military training or duty to carry forward any leave to the next year so long as the maximum hours carried forward from one year to the next does not exceed 45 workdays.

S.B. 1741 (Fraser) – Tree Mitigation Fees: would provide that: (1) if a city requires as a condition for the approval of a permit that the applicant pay to the city or to a third party a tree mitigation fee, the amount of the tree mitigation fee shall be roughly proportionate to the impacts of the activity on the public; and (2) provide procedures to appeal the amount of the fee.

S.B. 1745 (Gallegos) – Child-Care Facilities: this bill is the same as H.B. 3547, above.

S.B. 1752 (Uresti) – Juveniles: would make all records, files, and information stored by electronic means or otherwise from which a record or file could be generated, related to a child who is convicted and has satisfied the judgment for a fine-only misdemeanor offense other than a traffic offense confidential, to be released only in certain situations. (This bill is similar to H.B. 3695 by Gallego.)

S.B. 1757 (Uresti) – Property Tax: would exempt from property taxes a charitable organization that serves a religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes that promotes the athletic or academic development of boys or girls under the age of 18 years old.

S.B. 1758 (Lucio) – Affordable Housing: would: (1) require the governing board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) to establish field offices in rural areas to assist political subdivisions in developing or administering affordable housing programs; (2) require TDHCA to establish an office to support rural community and small city housing initiatives to: (a) work with each regional council of government to match housing sponsors to the housing needs of rural communities and small cities; (b) identify sources of funds for housing needs, (c) coordinate efforts to discuss and establish an online clearinghouse of best practices for rural community and small city housing initiatives; (d) establish regional nonprofit housing development organizations; (e) provide training to elected officials and others regarding housing programs, techniques to increase housing opportunities in rural communities and small cities, and funding for housing programs; and (f) assign, on request of a city council, an employee or independent contractor to assist the city in developing comprehensive housing plans, supporting housing development, and identifying financial resources.

S.B. 1765 (Rodriguez) – Personnel: This bill is the same bill as H.B. 3020, above.

S.B. 1771 (Williams) – Property Tax: would do the following: (1) eliminate the requirement that appraisal value notices must include estimated tax liability based on an application of last year’s tax rate to this year’s appraised value; (2) require tax assessors to submit the appraisal roll to a city not later than 21 days after the date the appraisal roll is certified to the assessor; (3) require a city to calculate its effective tax rate, same services tax rate, and rollback tax rate not later than 30 days after it receives the certified appraisal roll from the assessor; (4) require the person who calculates the effective tax rate, same services tax rate, and rollback rate to submit the rate to the city council within five days of making the calculation; (5) require an officer or employee designated by the city to either mail to each property owner, or publish in the newspaper, tax rate information at least 14 days before the date of the first meeting of the city council to consider the budget; (6) amend various sections of state law to include the application of a same services tax rate; (7) extend from 60 to 90 days the deadline for a city to adopt its tax rates after receiving a certified appraisal roll; (8) provide that if the requirements of number 5, above, are not met due to circumstances beyond the city’s control, such as a natural disaster, the city must adopt a default property tax rate for the year that is the lower of the same services tax rate or last year’s adopted rate; (9) eliminate the application of the default tax rate provision in cases where the city council fails to meet the statutory deadline for adopting a tax rate (Note: it appears that the confusing provisions in numbers 8 and 9, above, may be unintended features of this bill); and (10) require a city council, before giving notice of tax increase hearings, to take a record vote on the proposal to increase taxes and that the motion for that vote must be as follows: “I move that a proposal to increase property taxes by the adoption of a tax rate of (specify tax rate) be placed on the agenda for the meeting to be held on (date at which the governing body anticipates adopting the tax rate).” (Companion bill is H.B. 874 by Howard.)

S.B. 1773 (Williams) – Property Tax: would expand to certain counties a pilot program authorizing a property owner to appeal certain appraisal review board determinations to the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

S.B. 1774 (Williams) – Property Tax: would: (1) redefine the effective property tax rate calculation in a way that excludes many of the adjustments necessary to hold cities harmless for exemptions and mandates (Note: concerned city finance officers may wish to use the new formulas in the bill to re-calculate their effective rates going back several years and communicate the results to Bill Longley at bill@tml.org); (2) require the designated officer or employee of a city to electronically deliver certain tax rate information to the comptroller; and (3) require a city to publish certain tax rate information in a local newspaper of general circulation in a format prescribed by the comptroller.

S.B. 1782 (Ellis) -- Mandatory Health Benefit: This bill is the same as H.B. 3402, above.

S.B. 1783 (Ellis) – Smoking: would provide that an owner, operator, manager, or other person in control of a building that the public is invited or allowed to enter and in which smoking is permitted shall post clearly and conspicuously at each public entrance to the building a sign that reads: “WARNING: SMOKING IS PERMITTED INSIDE THIS BUILDING” and make the failure to post the sign a class C misdemeanor.

S.B. 1787 (Patrick) – Blood and Breath Specimens: would require an officer, before requesting a person to submit to the taking of a specimen, to inform the person orally and in writing that if the person refuses, the officer may apply for a warrant authorizing a specimen to be taken from the person. (Companion bill is H.B. 1743 by Martinez Fischer.)

S.B. 1798 (West) – Sales Tax: would provide that, for sales tax purposes, there is a rebuttable presumption that a retailer is engaged in business in this state if the retailer: (1) enters into an agreement with a Texas resident under which the resident receives a commission or other consideration for the referral of potential customers by any means, including by a link on an Internet Web site; and (2) received at least $10,000 during the previous four calendar quarters in cumulative gross receipts from sales to consumers located in Texas who were referred to the retailer by an agreement under (1), above. (Companion bill is H.B. 1317 by Naishtat.)

S.B. 1808 (Lucio) – EMS: would: (1) require EMS personnel to attend continuing education training in the management and care of pediatric patients and complete a certain number of hours – depending upon their status as a basic, intermediate, or paramedic technician – of the training every two years of the four-year certification period; (2) require an EMS vehicle be equipped with essential pediatric equipment and supplies; and (3) require that minimum standards be adopted for essential pediatric equipment and supplies for EMS vehicles.

S.B. 1811 (Duncan) – State Fiscal Matters: This bill is the same as H.B. 3790, above.

S.B. 1814 (Zaffirini) – Public Nuisance: would give a person 15 days after receipt of notice to abate a public nuisance. (Companion bill is H.B. 1132 by Larson.)

S.B. 1816 (Zaffirini) – Colonias: this bill is the same as H.B. 2803, above.

S.B. 1825 (Gallegos) – Low-Water Crossings: would require the Texas Transportation Commission to include in the sign manual for state highways provisions for the design and installation of a uniform low-water crossing sign, but would not require a local authority to replace low-water crossing signs installed before January 1, 2012.

S.B. 1826 (Gallegos) – Open Meetings: would provide that, as defined by the Open Meetings Act: (1) the term “deliberation” means an exchange, whether oral or written, between a quorum of a governmental body, or between a quorum of a governmental body and another person, concerning an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body or any public business; (2) the term “deliberation” includes an e-mail, letter, or other written communication that is produced by or originates from a member of the governmental body, is circulated among a quorum of the governmental body, concerns an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body or any public business; and (3) the term “meeting” includes a gathering: (a) that is conducted by the governmental body or for which the governmental body is responsible; (b) at which a quorum of members of the governmental body is present or actively participating; (c) that has been called by the governmental body; and (d) at which the members receive information from, give information to, ask questions of, or receive questions from any third person, including an employee of the governmental body, about the public business or public policy over which the governmental body has supervision or control.

S.B. 1827 (Gallegos) – Flood-prone Areas: would authorize a city to enter and inspect property in a flood-prone area at any time to determine if the property is being maintained in compliance with state law or any regulations of the city.

S.B. 1829 (Wentworth) – Public Information: would exclude from the term “governmental body,” as used in the Public Information Act, a chamber of commerce or a non-profit corporation that provides economic development services to a governmental body.

S.B. 1834 (Ellis) – Property Tax: would provide that if no claimant establishes entitlement to excess proceeds from a property tax foreclosure sale, that the excess proceeds shall be remitted to the comptroller for deposit in the state fair defense account. (Note: state law currently provides that the excess proceeds from a property tax foreclosure sale be proportionally distributed to each taxing unit participating in the sale.)

S.B. 1843 (Carona) – Internet Crimes: would: (1) create a new court cost to be collected from a person who, upon conviction, is required to register as a sex offender; and (2) transmit the proceeds from that cost to a special fund known as the Internet Crimes Against Children Fund, to be appropriated equally to the three Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in the state. (This bill is similar to H.B. 3746 by Frullo.)

S.B. 1844 (Lucio) – Traffic Citations: would: (1) require an arresting officer issuing a citation in lieu of magistration to specify that the person receiving the citation must appear before the magistrate in the precinct in which the offense is alleged to have been committed; and (2) require a magistrate to dismiss the cause and bar the refilling of a complaint if the officer fails to comply.

S.B. 1848 (Hegar) – EMS Service Fees: would make various changes to the distribution of the emergency service fee for wireless telecommunications connections and the prepaid 9-1-1 emergency service fee.

S.B. 1853 (Deuell) – EMS: would: (1) require, not later than the third business day after the date a hospital or EMS provider files a written notice of a lien in a cause of action or claim of an individual who receives emergency medical services for injuries caused by an accident that is attributed to the negligence of another person, the hospital or EMS provider to send a copy of the notice to each third-party payor of which they have knowledge; and (2) provide that failure to comply with the requirement in (1), above, would void the lien.

S.B. 1856 (Deuell) – EMS: would provide that the recovery of medical or health care expenses in a civil action is limited to the amount that is actually paid by or on behalf of the claimant to a physician or health care provider.

S.B. 1859 (Ellis) – Air Quality: would provide various measures to address air quality issues, including requiring the Texas Board of Health to establish voluntary guidelines for air quality of common outside areas connected to or immediately contiguous to indoor areas of government buildings. (Companion bill is H.B. 2306 by Alvarado.)

S.B. 1861 (Van de Putte) -- Employee Leave: would: (1) require a city to grant unpaid leave to an employee, who is not exempt, from overtime for purposes of meeting with school officials or attending a child’s school activity if the employee has worked for the city at least 90 days; (2) require an employee desiring such leave to give reasonable notice and provide documentation of the activity; (3) require a city to post notice of employees’ rights under this law; and (4) prohibit a city from suspending or terminating an employee for exercising rights under this law.

S.B. 1866 (Davis) – Professional Services: would provide that, unless inconsistent with the criteria relating to qualifications of a professional service provider: (1) in selecting a provider of professional services or a group or association of providers, a governmental entity – including a city – may consider the impact on the ability of the entity to comply with laws, rules, and policies of the entity relating to historically underutilized and/or minority businesses, the entity’s small business development program, or another contracting program approved by the entity, if any; and (2) the entity may also consider the provider’s or group or association of providers’ principal place of business if, in the entity’s governing body’s judgment, the location of the principal place of business will impact the most efficient and economical provision of the services.

S.J.R. 3 (Fraser) – Texas Water Development Board Bonds: would authorize the Texas Water Development Board to issue general obligation bonds for one or more accounts of the Texas Water Development Fund II, with certain restrictions.

S.J.R. 37 (Van de Putte) – Automatic Resignation: this joint resolution is the same as H.J.R. 146, above.

S.J.R. 38 (Davis) – Transportation Funding: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that: (1) subject to legislative appropriation, allocation, and direction, three-fourths of the net revenue that is remaining after payment of all refunds allowed by law and expenses of collection that is derived from taxes on motor fuels and lubricants used to propel motor vehicles over public highways shall be used for the sole purpose of constructing and maintaining public highways; and (2) for a biennium, the legislature may not appropriate those funds for a purpose other than acquiring rights-of-way or constructing or maintaining public roadways in an amount that exceeds the lesser of the total amount of those funds appropriated for a purpose other than acquiring rights-of-way, constructing, or maintaining public roadways in the preceding biennium or a slightly less amount in certain circumstances.

S.J.R. 40 (Lucio) – County Development Authority: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that a county may exercise limited ordinance-making authority for the purpose of regulating land development in the unincorporated area of the county if that authority is approved by a majority vote of the qualified voters voting in an election called by the commissioners court of the county for that purpose. (Note: please see S.B. 1362, above.)

S.J.R. 41 (Hinojosa) – 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. (Companion resolution is H.J.R. 120 by Munoz.)

S.J.R. 42 (Ogden) – Transportation Finance Zones: would amend the constitution to: (1) allow for the Texas Transportation Commission or its successor to designate as a transportation finance zone an area that is adjacent to the right-of-way of an existing or proposed state highway project; (2) provide that the designation of an area as a transportation finance zone must be reviewed and approved by the legislature before the designation may take effect; (3) allow the legislature to authorize proceeds of a state tax that is imposed in the zone on the sale of a taxable item or on the storage, use, or other consumption of a taxable item purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption to be deposited into a revolving fund; and (4) provide that money deposited to the credit of the revolving fund may only be used for the repayment of financial assistance provided from the revolving fund for highway projects within the zone. (Note: please see S.B. 1428, above.)

S.J.R. 49 (Patrick) – Religion: would amend the Texas Constitution to provide that the government may not directly, indirectly, or incidentally, substantially burden an individual’s or a religious organization’s conduct that is based on a sincerely held religious belief, unless the government is acting further a compelling government interest and using the least restrictive available means to do so.

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TML member cities may use the material herein for any purpose.
No other person or entity may reproduce, duplicate, or distribute any part of this document without the written authorization of the
Texas Municipal League.