• Texas statutes cover annexation in a variety of situationstexas proud image by buckwheat from Fotolia.com
  
  Annexation is the process by which a government entity sets aside a portion of land in an area for a specific use. In the state of Texas, there are many laws related to annexation in a variety of categories, ranging from education to hospital zoning. These laws describe what exactly annexation is and the proper process for annexation in various situations.
  
  

Municipal Annexation

• When a municipality (or city) decides to annex a portion of land, the officials of that city must redraw the municipal map to accommodate for the new land, Also, they must indicate on the map: the date of annexation, the number of the annexation ordinance and a reference to the minutes or record where the ordinance is recorded. The last two steps are optional, and only required if there is an ordinance. The new map must be sent to the county clerks of all affected counties within 30 days. These rules also apply to areas that are "disannexed" or taken out of the city.
  
  

Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

• In Texas law, an extraterritorial jurisdiction is defined as, "the unincorporated area that is contiguous with the corporate boundaries of the municipality and is within five miles of the corporate boundary, or closer, depending on the population." This means land and communities that are not themselves cities, but are close enough to recognized cities, are extraterritorial jurisdictions of those cities. When a new area of a city is annexed and the city expands, the extraterritorial area expands as well. Extraterritorial jurisdictions can themselves also be annexed.
  
  

Other Annexation Laws

• Independent school districts that have military bases near them may annex those bases by the Texas State Board of Education by petition of the base or post commander. When one school district is annexed to another, the status (such as home-rule status) of the receiving district will become the status of the annexed district. Hospital Districts can also be created via annexation, although voter approval is necessary as well.