By Julie Tomascik
Editor
Texans who live outside a municipality and are targeted by annexation now have some additional protection.
SB 6, which was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott during the special session, took effect Dec. 1 and gave property owners outside a municipality a vote on whether a city can annex them.
Under legislation in place prior to the new measure, cities could annex a territory within its extraterritorial jurisdiction—land that is three to five miles outside of city limits—without the support of the people who would be annexed.
“Previously, cities could annex your property without your say so,” Sen. Donna Campbell, author of SB 6, said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “Then, as they annex that area, there’s a new three to five mile zone outside the city limits that now becomes extraterritorial jurisdiction.”
Campbell noted the new annexation law prevents egregious overreach by municipalities.
“Now, cities cannot just go grab an area. Now they will have to have an election,” Campbell said. “You should have the freedom to decide where you want to live and a choice of whether or not you want that big government to come in and now govern you even though when you moved there that wasn’t the case.”
The Lone Star State is seeing rapid population growth.
“We’re seeing more private property taken for public use,” Jim Reaves, TFB state Legislative director, said. “This new annexation law gives Texas farmers, ranchers and private property owners some protection. This was a big win for rural Texas.”
It was a priority issue for Abbott during last year’s special session.
“I’m proud to sign legislation ending forced annexation practices, which is nothing more than a form of taxation without representation, and I thank the Legislature for their attention to this important issue during the special session,” Abbott said in a statement.
Thank you to our Texas Legislators and a big “thank you” to our Tx. Governor Abbott. I live in Blanco County, we were faced with this issue years ago and I am so pleased that we (citizens) now have a vote…
A noble effort. Unfortunately this bill, which was designed to protect farmers, ranchers, and other rural landowners, is now being used as a weapon against us, as a greedy out-of-town developer plans to plop a trailer/RV park in the middle of an area of established single family homes, small farms, and pasture land in rural Rockwall County. The land is nowhere near a lake or any other amenities. But because it is in an unincorporated area that now is under no threat of annexation when unwanted development occurs, the project – which all area residents are opposed to – is likely to move forward. Ironically several nearby farms were already annexed so they are constrained by city rules and regs while the new landowners are not. I understand the importance of this bill and its value to many, but am disappointed that there are those who would circumvent its intent and work to destroy the quality of life and rural ambiance that many of us have worked all our lives to maintain.
We are now facing an annexation in Palo Pinto County, and we are asking everyone in that area to please go and sign the petition to stop the annexation.
we are facing the same thing in Reno Texas trying to tell us they can annex just our road.because a builder is coming in and going to build house.we live in parker county a ways from reno.they have done everything in darkness so far. was not even going to tell us and some roads they annexed they never told home owners
The job is not finished. As written, small mismanaged municipalities (such as NOLANVILLE) are still allow d to grab neighborhoods at will even though the town provides no services (other than traffic enforcement). Nolanville is still able to annex simply because Bell County has less than 500,000 population. How does this make sense?
Not necessarily mismanaged. Maybe where you live. When TxDoT builds loops around small cities, it causes sales tax revenues to drop. Sales tax revenue is a large portion of a small cities budget. Annexation is a must in this case. What you don’t want is large cities reaching out because property taxes are high in large cities. Most small cities’ property taxes are traditionally lower than 0.50 per 100.
It’s great to have this information! I attended a meeting last week in the city of Hutto that is trying to annex my property and many surroundings properties! They made no mention of this new law!! Go figure!!!
We were annexed 12 years ago and the city has not provided us with any utilities. We want a street light by the driveway because of the deep ditch. They want me to provide my own by paying an electric company to install and pay monthly fees. We have 60 acres that I know were annexed because Toll road 130 went by our property. They bought 23 acres for the highway.
Thanks sooooo much Gov. Abbott and his team for this. Fairfield tried to force annexation also.