Today, the House Select Committee on Municipal Annexation voted to
recommend a moratorium on involuntary (forced) annexations and
satellite annexations. If it were to become law, the moratorium
would last until June 30, 2009.
The committee is going to meet again on May 14th to review the
legislative language. A lot could happen to water down the
legislative language. From the discussions today, the moratorium
is supposed to apply to any annexation that is not yet in effect.
Don’t be surprised if attempts are made to limit the applicability of
the moratorium so annexations in the process are not exempted.
Unfortunately,
the committee did not take more significant action, arguing that more
time was needed. When the public was invited to provide comments
on the moratorium, I pointed out that the moratorium recommendation
also should ensure that a committee, with citizens and not just
legislators, study the issue. After all, a moratorium for the
sake of a moratorium wouldn’t be that great.
As it turned out, Rep. Luebke, who is co-chair of the committee,
responded by stating that the House committee was going to continue
meeting until December. There was at least a sense that they
would meet during the short session–they had staff confirm that they
could meet during the session.
I certainly hope the
committee continues meeting. A lot needs to be done. The
good news is the committee members (possibly all of them) recognize
that major reforms are needed.
