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City deals with long list of state legislation
By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer
The bills that passed during the state legislative session have turned heads and raised eyebrows for some Plano officials.
Frank Turner, executive director of the city’s Development Business Center said 6,374 bills were introduced in the 140 days, an all time record.
“Out of the 4,149 bills passed, 4,120 affect municipal operations,” Turner said.
Plano Mayor Pat Evans said the legislature would not allow Plano to start a red-light enforcement program. She said the city found a way around it and the money collected goes to traffic enforcement, such as school zones, speed trailers and hiring extra officers on holidays.
“The legislature started noticing we were collecting money and wanted some of it back,” Evans said. “We went through the session and fought it.”
Evans said supporting trauma centers is a good cause, but the state did not choose an appropriate source to take the funds.
“This raises a question,” Turner said. “Some cities that have photo enforcement may not have trauma centers.”
He said the state had a delayed interest in the program and wanted to accept revenue after they saw how successful they were.
“They should support our cause,” Evans said. “We need it for safety in our community. We now won’t be able to fund the extra things anymore. The money collected will have to go toward maintaining the cameras.”
Bruce Glasscock, Plano’s assistant city manager, said he represented the city on its opposition of the state taking 50 percent of the city’s revenue of a program that the state didn’t implement.
“The state felt that the city could potentially abuse the red-light camera program and the use of its revenue,” Glasscock said. “We would have ensured our only reasoning was for public safety. It was pretty clear that the state felt they had to take the financial incentive away.”
The state legislatures also agreed to add provisions to eminent domain.
Turner said he was concerned with the provision because it states that after the governmental entity acquires property they have 10 years to begin construction or the property owner can buy back their land at the same price. He said the value increase will not be considered.
“Many projects take more than 10 years to coerce,” Turner said. “This doesn’t just affect Plano directly, but indirectly as well. Plano benefits from other government entities who build highways, airports, water reservoirs and landfills. All those take more than 10 years to construct.”
Turner said he feels as though the city of Plano views the use of eminent domain seriously and doesn’t use their power very often.
“We feel the property owner has always been treated fairly and the law was efficient to provide all the necessary safeguards,” Turner said. “We believe many of the bills, including this one, not only will add bureaucracy and cost, but also prevent governmental entities that were much needed for the future of the city.”
Turner said he believes it is the legislature’s prerogative to set new standards to balance the laws and meet the needs of the citizens. He added in these cases the legislatures did not inhibit the ability for the cities to meet the citizen’s needs.
Other bills passed that will affect Plano
* Senate Bill 1306 n Open Meetings Act: Excludes from the definition of a “meeting’ the gathering of a quorum of a governmental body at a ceremonial event or press conference if formal action is not taken and any discussion of public business is incidental to the ceremonial event or press conference.
* House Bill 1267 n State Fee on Municipal court Convictions: Will impose a new $2 state court on each person convicted of an offense in a municipal court (other than an offense related pedestrian or parking of a motor vehicle) to help pay for indigent defense representation.
* Senate Bill 600 n Court Fee: Will raise from $4 to $6 the municipal court fee for “support of the judiciary” (judges’ salaries). The fee will be imposed on any person convicted of a traffic offense other than a pedestrian or parking offense.
* House Bill 1471 n Mutual Aid:
1) Designates the mayor of a city as the emergency management director of the city
2) Provides that in the role of emergency management director, the mayor is the “governor’s designated agent” in the administration of the governor’s homeland security duties;
3) Permits the mayor to appoint an assistant, to be called “emergency management coordinator”
4) Authorizes “state fire protection agencies” to assist the Texas Commission on Fire Protection to develop a statewide mutual aid program for fire emergencies;
5) Authorizes a city to offer mutual aid on its own authority or under the new statewide program;
6) Creates a Texas Statewide Mutual Aid System;
7) Provides that the governor’s division of emergency management oversees the System;
8) Divides the state into “disaster districts”;
9) provides that a request to a city for mutual aid is considered to be made under the System;
10) provides that the terms of a mutual aid agreement control whan a requestee and a requestor for mutual aid are each a party to an existing agreement;
11) requires the cities of a disaster district to agree on procedures that specify the manner in which mutual aid requests will be approved;
12) provides that if a city receives a request for mutual aid, the chief of the department, with the consent of the mayor, may provide the aid;
13) provides that when a request for mutual aid is received, a city must “assess local resources” to determine availability of those resources to respond to the request;
14) provides that a local government “may” provide assistance to the extent necessary;
15) requires that mutual aid response be provided in accordance with the National Incident Management System;
16) provides that “operational control” over the personnel, equipment, and resources of a responding city is with the requesting local government entity unless otherwise agreed;
17) Provides that “direct supervision” over responding personnel and equipment remains with the supervisory personnel of the responding city;
18) Provides that responding city personnel are entitled to wages and benefits as if the personnel were continuously employed by the responding city;
19) Provides that the state may directly request the provision of mutual aid from any city participating in the System, and shall pay costs associated with the request if a city responds;
20) Provides that a city requesting mutual aid from another city is responsible for the costs of the city providing mutual aid, except as otherwise provided by an existing mutual aid agreement.
* House Bill 1887 n burglary of a Vehicle: increases the penalty for burglary of a vehicle as follows: (1) from a standard class A misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor with a minimum period of confinement of six months if the defendant has been previously convicted of burglary of a vehicle; (2) to a state jail felony if the defendant has been previously convicted of burglary of a vehicle two or more times; and (3) to include additional community supervision for a person convicted of repeat offenses of burglary of a vehicle.
* Senate Bill 11 n Homeland Security: this is a comprehensive homeland security bill. The first part of the bill relates to mutual aid, and those provisions are identical to the provisions of House Bill 1471, which is described above.
Additional, city-related provisions of the bill do the following:
1) Provide that the sudden relocation of a large number of residents from the area of a declared disaster to a city is considered a reasonably unforeseeable situation for a reasonable period immediately following the relocation, and thus would be an “emergency” pursuant to the two hour posting requirement in the Open Meetings Act, provided that members of the news media are notified not later than one hour before the meeting;
2) Make deliberation of a “security audit” grounds for a closed meeting (executive session);
3) Clarify that emergency vehicles are exempt from paying tolls on Texas Tollways regardless of the circumstances;
4) Define a utility as “critical infrastructure” for purposes of homeland security laws;
5) Provide that utilities with the power of eminent domain have limited disclosure duties to the owners of property being condemned;
6) Provide that members of urban search and rescue teams are entitled to a paid leave of absence from work when engaged in training or duties;
7) Allow a mayor’s declaration of a local disaster to include fireworks restrictions;
8) Require that each appointed public officer whose position description, job duties, or assignment includes emergency management responsibilities, or who plays a role in emergency preparedness, response, or recovery, to complete a three-hour emergency management training course not later than 180 days after assuming office;
9) Provide that the training described above is to be developed or approved by the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management and shall be available on videotape or a functionally similar medium at no cost.
Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com
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