Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-14 Page: 4 of 6
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The Honorable Frank Madla - Page 4
session will become fully applicable, and you ask whether the December 31, 2002, date will affect
the annexation of the properties. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. See also Act of May 30,
1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1167, 17, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 4074, 4090 (effective date). We lack
sufficient information to apply the transition and effective date provisions of Senate Bill 89 to
specific properties and will accordingly deal generally with the impact of the December 31, 2002,
date on annexations. The city will have access to the information necessary to determine how the
effective date provisions apply to a property it wishes to annex.
Senate Bill 89 changed the municipal annexation process in a number of ways, among other
things, "requiring cities to implement advance annexation planning procedures and providing for the
timely provision [of] services to the annexed areas." See SENATE RESEARCH CTR., BILL ANALYSIS,
Tex. S.B. 89, 76th Leg., R.S. (1999) (enrolled version "Digest"). Under this enactment a city must
prepare an annexation plan specifying the annexations that it intends to implement in three years'
time. See TEX. Loc. GOV'T CODE ANN. 43.052 (Vernon Supp. 2003). Written notice of the
adoption or amendment of the plan must be provided to each property owner in the affected area and
to certain entities providing services there within ninety days of the time the plan is adopted or
amended. See id. 43.052(f). After a proposed annexation has appeared in the annexation plan for
three years, the city has thirty-one days from the end of the three-year period to complete the
annexation. See id. 43.052(g); see also id. 43.056 (annexing city would have to provide full
services to the annexed area within two and one-half years, with certain exceptions). Senate Bill 89
also adopted Local Government Code section 42.0225, the subject of your first question. See Act
of May 30, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1167, 1, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 4074.
Senate Bill 89 took effect September 1, 1999, but compliance with its changes to the
annexation process has been phased in over a period of time ending December 31, 2002. See id.
17, at 4090. Section 17 of the bill, the effective date provision, requires each municipality to adopt
an annexation plan as required by Local Government Code section 43.052, as amended by Senate
Bill 89, on or before December 31, 1999, to become effective December 31, 1999. See id. Local
Government Code section 43.052 requires a municipality to prepare an annexation plan "that
specifically identifies annexations that may occur beginning on the third anniversary of the date the
annexation plan is adopted." TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. 43.052(c) (Vernon Supp. 2003). A
municipality may annex an area identified in the plan only as provided by section 43.052. See id.
43.052(b). With certain exceptions, a city may not annex an area without including it in the
annexation plan. See id. 43.052(c), (h). See also HOUSE RESEARCH ORG., BILL ANALYSIS, Tex.
S.B. 89, 76th Leg., R.S. (1999) at 3-5.
An area not included in the annexation plan may be annexed until December 31, 2002,
pursuant to annexation law as it was before the effective date of Senate Bill 89, unless the first public
hearing of the annexation procedure was conducted on or after September 1, 1999. See Act of May
30, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1167, 17(c), (d), 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 4074, 4090. In the latter case,
certain changes in the law as specified in section 17(d) of the bill apply to the annexation. See id.
See also id. 17(e) (specifying changes in the law applicable to the annexation of an area not
required to be included in a municipal annexation plan if the first hearing notice is published on or
after September 1, 1999).(GA-0014)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-14, text, January 22, 2003; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274909/m1/4/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.