By: Hughes, Bettencourt	S.B. No. 1838

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment
	charter schools.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 12.1058, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  In adopting or enforcing ordinances for purposes of
	zoning, permitting, code compliance, and development, a
	municipality may not treat an open-enrollment charter school
	differently than a school district.
	SECTION 2.  The heading to Section 212.902, Local Government
	Code, is amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 212.902.  SCHOOL DISTRICT AND OPEN-ENROLLMENT CHARTER
	SCHOOL LAND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS.
	SECTION 3.  Sections 212.902(a), (b), (c), (d), and (f),
	Local Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  This section applies to an agreement [agreements]
	between a school district or open-enrollment charter school
	[districts] and a [any] municipality which has annexed territory
	for limited purposes.
	(b)  On request by a school district or open-enrollment
	charter school, a municipality shall enter an agreement with the
	board of trustees of the school district or the governing body of
	the open-enrollment charter school to establish review fees, review
	periods, and land development standards ordinances and to provide
	alternative water pollution control methodologies for school
	buildings constructed by the school district or open-enrollment
	charter school. The agreement shall include a provision exempting
	the district or charter school from all land development ordinances
	in cases where the district or charter school is adding temporary
	classroom buildings on an existing school campus.
	(c)  If the municipality and the school district or
	open-enrollment charter school do not reach an agreement on or
	before the 120th day after the date on which the municipality
	receives the district's or charter school's request for an
	agreement, proposed agreements by the [school] district or charter
	school and the municipality shall be submitted to an independent
	arbitrator appointed by the presiding district judge whose
	jurisdiction includes the [school] district or charter school. The
	arbitrator shall, after a hearing at which both the [school]
	district or charter school and the municipality make presentations
	on their proposed agreements, prepare an agreement resolving any
	differences between the proposals. The agreement prepared by the
	arbitrator will be final and binding upon both the [school]
	district or charter school and the municipality. The cost of the
	arbitration proceeding shall be borne equally by the [school]
	district or charter school and the municipality.
	(d)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
	that requests an agreement under this section, at the time the
	district or charter school [it] makes the request, shall send a copy
	of the request to the commissioner of education. At the end of the
	120-day period, the requesting district or charter school shall
	report to the commissioner the status or result of negotiations
	with the municipality. A municipality may send a separate status
	report to the commissioner. The district or charter school shall
	send to the commissioner a copy of each agreement between the
	district or charter school and a municipality under this section.
	(f)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
	applicability of or waive fees for fire, safety, health, or
	building code ordinances of the municipality prior to or during
	construction of school buildings, nor shall any agreement waive any
	fee or modify any ordinance of a municipality for an
	administration, service, or athletic facility proposed for
	construction by a school district or open-enrollment charter
	school.
	SECTION 4.  Section 395.022(b), Local Government Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  A school district and an open-enrollment charter school
	are [is] not required to pay impact fees imposed under this chapter
	unless the board of trustees of the district or the governing body
	of the charter school consents to the payment of the fees by
	entering a contract with the political subdivision that imposes the
	fees.  The contract may contain terms the board of trustees or
	governing body considers advisable to provide for the payment of
	the fees.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2017.