HB 3897

relating to territory in an emergency services district that is
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1.  Section 775.022, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to
(a)  If a municipality completes all other procedures
necessary to annex territory in a district, including the
preparation of a service plan if required by Section 43.056, Local
Government Code, [and if] the municipality intends to remove the
territory from the district, and the municipality is capable at the
time of the removal of being [be] the sole provider of emergency
services to the territory by the use of municipal personnel or by
some method other than by use of the district, the municipality
shall send written notice of those facts, and the completed service
plan, if applicable, to the board not later than the 30th day after
completing the necessary procedures.  The municipality must send
the notice to the secretary of the board by certified mail, return
receipt requested.  The territory remains part of the district and
does not become part of the municipality until the secretary of the
board receives the notice and the board by resolution disannexes
the territory from the district.  If the board determines that the
municipal services planned to be provided in the territory will not
meet or exceed the level of service provided by the district in the
territory, the board shall adopt that determination in a resolution
and may not by resolution disannex the territory from the district.
If the board determines that municipal services planned to be
provided in the territory will meet or exceed the level of service
provided by the district in the territory at the time of
disannexation [On receipt of the notice], the board shall by
resolution disannex the territory from the district, notify the
appraisal district to [immediately] change its records to show that
the territory has been disannexed from the district, and [shall]
cease to provide further services to the residents of that
territory.  This subsection does not require a municipality to
remove from a district territory the municipality has annexed.  For
the purposes of this subsection, "level of service" for fire and
emergency medical protection means the location, deployment, and
response time of fire suppression or medical resources originally
dispatched to a structural or wildland fire or emergency medical
(a-1)  A board is considered to have approved a disannexation
of territory under Subsection (a) if the board fails to provide to
the municipality a resolution disapproving or approving the
disannexation before the 30th day after the date the board receives
the notice under Subsection (a) from the municipality.
SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.