One of the most controversial items expected to come up at the current Special Session of the Legislature is municipal annexation, and the bill, introduced Wednesday by State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) would severely limit a municipality's ability to grow through absorbing nearby areas, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Campbell's bill is meant to cover cities statewide, but it is mainly written to limit the ability of San Antonio to annex some 16,000 residents in Leon Springs, in northwest Bexar County, which is in Campbell's district.
This measure is more sweeping than an annexation bill which was killed by a Sen. Jose Menendez filibuster in the final hours of the regular session in May.
The bill would, as the previous measure would, require a vote of the people in an area to be annexed before a city could annex any area of more than 200 residents.
Annexation opponents say simply allowing members of a City Council, whom people in the area to be annexed did not have the right to vote for, on their own decision move residents into the city is a classic example of taxation without representation.
San Antonio City officials say that vote should be among the entire city, and not just the annexed areas.
But Campbell's new bill also places new restrictions on municipal annexation.
It prevents cities from annexing property within one quarter mile of a military installation, unless a written and signed agreement is reached with the military supporting the annexation, and specifiying how the annexation will affect the military mission, language written specifically to cover the City of San Antonio's plans to annex an area around Camp Bullis:
"Notwithstanding any other law, a municipality may not annex for full or limited purposes any part of the area located within one-quarter mile of the boundaries of a military base in which an active training program is conducted unless the municipality and the base authorities have entered into a comprehensive written agreement that establishes provisions to maintain the compatibility of the municipality's regulation of land in the area with the military base operations following the annexation."
The City of San Antonio says the main reason why it aggressively wants to annex a large portion of Leon Springs is to use its zoning authority to make sure the military 'active training mission' at Camp Bullis is not disrupted.
A growing group of Texas leaders have come out in support of Abbott's proposed annexation limits.
“It is important for people in unincorporated areas to have the ability to vote amongst themselves to determine if a municipality is going to annex their land. Allowing the municipality voting block to dictate the acquisition of unincorporated land for tax purposes is neither fair nor just," said Russell Boening, President of the Texas Farm Bureau.
The group Homeowners Against Annexation says not allowing citizens to have a say in whether they will live in the city or in an unincorporated area is a violation of the sorts of basic property rights which are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
"Forced annexation is a taking of our individual choices and of our property rights," HAA President Mike Stewart said. "Greedy cities use forced annexation to fund perpetual spending sprees and avoid living within their means as hard working Texans, veterans, and retirees must do. Cities are making false claims that they have to annex already developed areas in the county near military bases to protect the bases from development when the truth is that they are only after the taxes of the homeowners who already live by the bases."
The measure also specifically regulates the annexation by cities large and small of everything from streams, ponds, municipal utility districts, and has a provision smoothing a city's ability to annex what are called 'enclaves,' small neighborhoods which for whatever reason have become surrounded by the city.
Campbell's bill also stipulates which services, from solid waste collection to fire protection, cities must provide to annexed areas on a specified time frame.
The bill also, for the first time, sets out a process for de-annexation, enabling neighborhoods, under certain circumstances, to leave a city.
The measure specifically allows the proposed annexation of a portion of the City of Converse, which is meant to better provide services to a currently depressed area, and it is seen as a way for neighboring cities to cooperate to make sure services are provided to residents.
Opponents of annexation also argue that, since the citizens who live in the areas to be annexed had no voice in racking up the substantial debt owed by San Antonio and other cities, they should not be required to have their tax money used to pay back the debt.
In addition to protecting military bases, the Texas Municipal League says the ability to follow growth into the suburbs and annex fast growing areas is what has prevented Texas cities from becoming Cleveland or Detroit, hollowed out shells surrounded by prosperous suburbs.
San Antonio officials also argue that the 16,000 people who live in the area to be annexed would not be living in unincorporated Bexar County were it not for the presence of the economic engine of San Antonio, where many of those residents work, shop, and use municipal services, frequently without paying for them.
Campbell's bill is given a better than 50-50 chance of passing in the Special Session.