State Impact Fee Legislation: Guidelines for Analysis, Part I

Abstract

Two years ago, Texas became the first state to adopt a comprehensive statute authorizing impact fees for water, sewer, road, and drainage facilities. At that time, an article in this journal analyzed the advantages of enabling legislation and identified highlights of the Texas law for municipalities facing impact fee proposals in their own statehouses. See Morgan, Strauss, and Leitner, “State Impact Fee Legislation,” 40 Land Use L. & Zoning Dig. No. 1 at 3 (1988). The article concluded that express enabling authority should prevent challenges to local ordinances as ultra vires, and might also assist in averting constitutional challenges based on a theory of disproportionate exactions.