Texas Legislation Impacting Municipal Revenue Generation (Part 2 of 3)

House Bill 347 – Relating to consent annexation requirements

Annexations are a powerful city tool used to expand territorial boundaries and generate property and sales tax revenues; especially for Texas cities - which do not collect state tax revenues. House Bill (“HB”) 347 was signed into law on May 24, 2019 and further limited Texas city’s ability to force annexations. HB347 had the net effect of making all 254 Texas counties equal in their right to consent to vote to annexation. HB347 eliminated the former two-tiered system established in Senate Bill (“SB”) 6, the Texas Annexation Right to Vote Act. This former two-tiered system required voter elections before annexation in counties with a population greater than 500,000 people (Tier 2); however, did not apply to the 238 Texas counties with a population of 500,000 or fewer people (Tier 1), unless the county held an election to change its Tier status.

Should you care to discuss the items above with a Launch Advisor, please contact Steven Saules at (303) 257-6959 or [email protected].