Bills to exempt developers from city ordinances are unsuccessful
updated July 6, 2011

Three bills intended to bias the Texas Grandfathering Statute even more toward developers were filed in the 2011 Texas Legislature. This statute is frequently relied on by developers to get exemptions from tree and aquifer protection ordinances. None of the three bills was finally passed.

HB 2732/SB 1442 [by Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) & Sen. Jeff Wentworth] would have allowed developers to grandfather projects by writing a couple of paragraphs generally describing what they might build. It seemed headed for final passage but failed to beat the session’s clock.

HB 3534 & HB 3535 by Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington) would have given developers the upper hand when suing cities that refused to recognize invalid grandfathering claims. Neither bill made it out of committee.