There are a lot of sham annexation bills out there (such as the Rand/League bill, SB. 472) so it certainly is a concern that some legislators will get fooled by bills that do nothing to reform the annexation law.
The good news is that true annexation reform is a bipartisan movement as seen by two annexation reform bills:
SB. 494: Introduced by Senator Shaw (Democrat, Cumberland County)
A House companion bill also was just introduced:
HB 645: Numerous bipartisan sponsors and the count keeps growing.
These two bills provide true reform because unlike the Rand/League bill (SB 472), these bills require:
– Meaningful Services: Require that meaningful services are provided–including water and sewer (Some of the sham bills don’t require municipalities to provide water and sewer service!)
– County Oversight: Provide real oversight by the counties
– Voting: Allows a vote of affected property owners
There are still some things that need to be done to improve these bills, but they are a great start. It is encouraging that both political parties realize that annexation reform is a must.
Hopefully, legislators will get behind these two bills immediately and make real reform a reality.
