HB2559

HB2559 makes it harder for a city to impose a covered development moratorium—a temporary halt on residential or commercial development. It changes the procedures in Local Government Code Chapter 212, Subchapter E, not every land-use rule or every type of industrial activity. The subchapter’s commercial-property definition excludes heavy industrial uses and quarries. Final law; definitions and scope.

For adopting a moratorium, a city must publish newspaper notice at least 30 days before a hearing and send certified-mail notice to people who properly requested it by certified or registered mail to the municipal secretary within the specified preceding two-year period. The city’s governing body must hold two public hearings at least 30 days apart. The act removes the former provision that automatically started a temporary moratorium after notice publication. Final law, Section 1.

By the 12th day after the second hearing, the governing body must begin its final determination through at least two ordinance readings, which must be at least 28 days apart. Final adoption requires three-fourths of all governing-body members, not merely three-fourths of those present. The statute also bars adoption if the prescribed process is missed. The 12-day language is a deadline to begin the determination, not a claim that two readings separated by 28 days must both finish within 12 days. Final law, amended Section 212.134(f).

The law applies the 90-day expiration rule to moratoriums throughout this subchapter. An extension requires a public hearing and written findings identifying the problem, progress toward fixing it, a definite extension period and evidence that the problem will be resolved within that period. The aggregate duration cannot exceed 180 days. A new moratorium cannot be adopted before the second anniversary of the previous one’s expiration if it addresses the same harm, affects the same property type or covers the same area; meeting any one of those comparisons triggers the restriction. Final law, Section 2.

Existing requirements for substantive justification and written findings remain, as do waiver procedures and protections for qualifying projects already in progress and previously filed zoning applications. The separate newspaper-notice rule for an extension hearing—at least 15 days—was not amended by this act. The act took effect September 1, 2025; it does not include a separate transition clause resolving every previously adopted moratorium. Final law, Sections 3–4; justification; extension notice; waivers; existing-project protection.