Several attempts to amend House Speaker Mel Brown's bill on annexations, incorporations and townships failed Monday night and HB363 was sent on to the Senate.
The House voted 50-24 to approve the bill, which would eliminate townships and convert most of them into less-potent planning districts, scrap existing incorporation petitions and prevent cities from annexing valuable commercial areas without also taking in surrounding neighborhoods.Brown, intent on getting his legislation to the Senate before the session's final hour, extended discussion of the bill twice before a vote was called for at 7:30 p.m., an hour-and-a-half after House debate was scheduled to end for the day. The Senate had already adjourned so many senators heard the House debate. Senate President Lane Beattie said the Senate could act on the bill as early as Tuesday afternoon. The session ends Wednesday at midnight.
Brown's bill corrects flaws in an annexation and incorporation bill passed literally at the last minute a year ago. That bill created townships, unincorporated communities that can protect their borders, and 15 were voted into being throughout the state last year. By eliminating townships, Brown's bill favors existing cities wanting to annex adjacent property.
The 57-page bill considered Monday was the fourth version of HB363. A fifth version, a two-page revision that would have frozen all annexations, incorporations and township elections until May 15 of next year so the whole issue could be studied, was handed out to representatives but not acted on. It was Brown's way of saying his colleagues should take his bill seriously.