Relating to municipal and county regulation of certain wind and solar power facilities.
Summary
HB 3056 would expand Chapter 247 of the Local Government Code to specifically address wind and solar power facilities used to sell energy or ancillary services at wholesale. The bill defines “solar power facility” and “wind power facility” by reference to the Utilities Code and adds a new section requiring local regulation of these facilities in certain circumstances.
Under the bill, a municipality by ordinance and a county by order would be required to prohibit installation of a wind or solar power facility within 500 yards of property owned by someone other than the facility owner or operator, unless each affected property owner gives written consent. The distance would be measured from the nearest point of the structure to the nearest point of the property line. Counties would be barred from applying this restriction inside municipal boundaries.
The bill also requires municipalities and counties to adopt the mandated prohibition by October 1, 2025, while protecting projects already underway before the effective date from being forced to remove installed facilities. The act would take effect September 1, 2025, and is intended to be harmonized with other 2025 nonsubstantive code legislation affecting Chapter 247.
The bill’s practical impact would be to significantly limit where wholesale wind and solar projects can be sited near neighboring private property and to impose a uniform local setback/consent requirement across Texas. It would affect local governments, renewable energy developers, landowners near proposed projects, and existing Chapter 247 regulation of alternative energy generation facilities.
There is no recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials, so sentiment cannot be measured from debate. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to favor neighboring landowner protections and local setback controls over developer flexibility, which suggests likely support from property-rights and local-control advocates and likely concern from renewable energy developers and proponents of expanded wind and solar deployment.
Impact
HB 3056 would amend Chapter 247, Local Government Code, to create a new statewide local-regulation requirement for wholesale wind and solar power facilities. It would require municipalities and counties to adopt a prohibition on installation within 500 yards of another person’s property unless written consent is obtained, while limiting county authority inside city limits. The bill would therefore change the scope of local land-use regulation and impose a specific setback/consent standard on certain renewable energy projects, with a grandfathering-style protection for facilities already under construction before the effective date.
Sentiment
No committee transcript or vote data was provided, so there is no direct record of debate or formal support/opposition in the materials. From the bill text, the policy direction appears to be protective of nearby property owners and local governments, with a regulatory approach that would likely be viewed favorably by those concerned about siting impacts, and less favorably by wind and solar developers or clean-energy advocates who may see it as a restrictive barrier to project development.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely the 500-yard setback and written-consent requirement, which could substantially constrain project siting and increase development costs or land acquisition complexity. Supporters would likely emphasize property rights, local control, and buffering of neighboring land uses, while opponents would likely argue the bill creates an overly broad restriction on renewable energy infrastructure and could impede wholesale wind and solar development. A secondary issue is the bill’s mandate that local governments adopt the prohibition by a fixed deadline, which reduces local discretion and may be controversial for both counties and municipalities.