2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB5656

HB5656 creates Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 263 for four described tracts totaling about 1,617 acres in the W.

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Official caption: Relating to the creation of the Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 263; granting a limited power of eminent domain; providing authority to issue bonds; providing authority to impose assessments, fees, and taxes.

Became law without signatureSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Lalani. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

HB5656 creates Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 263 for four described tracts totaling about 1,617 acres in the W.
The district receives general municipal-utility-district powers and authority to finance, build and maintain roads and related drainage.
Property taxes and property-tax-backed bonds require voter approval.
The act became law without the governor's signature June 20, 2025, effective immediately.

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What does it do?

HB5656 creates Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 263 for four described tracts totaling about 1,617 acres in the W. Morton, J. Wilkins and J.H. Cartwright surveys. The tracts contain 721.9, 812.1, 79.97 and 3.019 acres, with boundaries referencing Harlem Road, Grand Parkway, FM 1464, Pitts Road and the Union Pacific railroad. The statutory descriptions determine which property is included; this is not a district covering the whole county.

The district receives general municipal-utility-district powers and authority to finance, build and maintain roads and related drainage. District voters must confirm creation and elect five permanent directors. Required consent from every municipality whose limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction includes district land must precede the election. Owners representing a majority of assessed real-property value may petition the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to appoint five named temporary directors. Permanent directors serve staggered four-year terms. Any new district created by division under the cited general law inherits this chapter’s powers and duties.

Property taxes and property-tax-backed bonds require voter approval. Road bonds secured by property taxes require approval by two-thirds of participating district voters; principal at issuance cannot exceed one-fourth of assessed real-property value. Specified revenue- or contract-payment-backed obligations do not need a separate bond election, but contract taxes require voter approval of the underlying contract. Operating-tax rates cannot exceed the approved rate; the continuing tax supporting outstanding tax-backed bonds has no rate or amount limit specified in this act. Road projects must meet applicable city/county requirements, with state approval for state-maintained roads.

The act became law without the governor’s signature June 20, 2025, effective immediately. Legislative votes of 103–45 in the House and 27–4 in the Senate met the two-thirds requirement, so the fallback prohibition on eminent domain did not become operative. General-law limits still apply. Sources: enrolled law, boundaries and votes and history.

What changed along the way?

The operative text and boundary descriptions match across the introduced, House committee, House-passed, Senate committee and enrolled versions. Both committees reported without amendments, and the official amendment index lists none. No substitute or floor amendment changed the final powers described here.

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Landowners, developers and future occupants could benefit from district-financed infrastructure. District taxpayers and customers could pay taxes, assessments, fees and debt-service costs; property owners may be affected by lawful acquisition proceedings. The act does not itself approve a particular project, establish a tax rate, issue bonds or prove the confirmation election has occurred.

The latest fiscal note and introduced note anticipate no significant state impact and no impact on other local governments. They cannot determine the district’s own fiscal impact because its future use of eminent domain, bonds, assessments, fees and taxes is unknown. That uncertainty should not be presented as a promise of free infrastructure.

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.