BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4943

By: Kitzman

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Special utility districts (SUDs), a type of special purpose district authorized under the Water Code, may provide water, wastewater, and firefighting services. Currently, SUDs are governed by boards of directors ranging from five to eleven elected board members, all of whom are elected at large within the SUD. This can pose an issue in certain rural SUDs with only one or two primary population centers, because the directors in these SUDs tend to come from the more populated areas, while areas of the SUD with fewer residents remain largely underrepresented. H.B. 4943 seeks to address this issue by allowing the board of directors of a SUD, on its own motion, to order that directors be elected from single-member districts. This could provide more direct representation, accountability, increased participation, and local control within a SUD.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 4943 amends the Water Code to authorize the board of directors for a special utility district (SUD), on its own motion, to order that the directors are to be elected from single-member districts. Before adopting such an order, the board must take the following actions:

· hold a public hearing at which registered voters of the SUD are given an opportunity to comment on whether or not they favor the election of directors in the manner proposed by the board; and

· publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper that has general circulation in the SUD, not later than the seventh day before the date of the hearing.

H.B. 4943 provides the following with respect to a board of directors that adopts such an order:

· the order must be entered not later than the 120th day before the date of the first election at which the directors are elected from single-member districts authorized by the order;

· the board is required to divide and number the SUD into the appropriate number of districts, based on the number of directors that are to be elected from single-member districts;

· the districts must be drawn not later than the 90th day before the date of the first director election from single-member districts and must be compact and contiguous and as nearly as practicable of equal population;

· residents of each single-member district are entitled to elect one director to the board and a candidate who seeks to represent a district must be a resident of that district;

· a director vacates the office if they cease to reside in the district they represent; and

· a person appointed to fill a vacancy in a district must be a resident of that district.

H.B. 4943 requires a director elected at the first election at which the directors are elected from single-member districts to be a resident of the district they were elected to represent not later than the 90th day after the date election returns are canvassed or the 60th day after the date of a final judgment in an election contest filed concerning that district. The bill establishes that a director vacates their office if they fail to establish residency within this time required.

H.B. 4943 requires that all positions on the board be filled at that first election of directors from single-member districts and after each redistricting and requires the directors then elected to draw lots for staggered terms as provided by a policy of the board. The bill requires the board, not later than the 90th day before the date of the first general election at which directors may officially recognize and act on the last preceding federal census, to redivide the SUD into the appropriate number of districts if the census data indicates that the population of the most populous district exceeds the population of the least populous district by more than 10 percent. The redivision of the districts is required to be done in the same manner as the initial division of districts under the bill.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.