Rep. Combs’ latest legislative hosing of Austin came on May 29, the last
day of the session, when the Senate passed the final version of SB 14, the
property rights bill Combs initiated in the House as HB 2591. The bill allows
landowners to sue a municipality or the state if their property values drop by
25% or more due to governmental regulations.
The bill includes a provision that could limit Austin’s ability to pass
ordinances affecting the Barton Springs Zone. The language allows landowners in
a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction to sue the city if the regulations in
the ETJ are not “identical… throughout the entire municipality and its entire
extraterritorial jurisdiction.”
Combs also carried HB 564, a bill that would have limited Austin’s ability
to annex suburban areas by giving outlying residents the right to vote on the
proposed annexation by the city. The bill passed the House, but died in Senate
committee last month.
This article appears in June 9 • 1995 and June 9 • 1995 (Cover).