BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 5418

By: Goldman

Urban Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Karis Municipal Management District of Tarrant County is located in the City of Crowley and is currently authorized to provide certain services to land located within district boundaries. There is a need to convert the district's board from an appointed board to an elected board and to authorize the imposition of a district assessment. H.B. 5418 seeks to address this need by providing for an elected board and a district assessment.

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. 5418 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to set out provisions relating to the Karis Municipal Management District of Tarrant County, which is a municipal management district created by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) order under applicable constitutional provisions and operating under applicable statutory provisions.

H.B. 5418 establishes that the district is governed by a board of five directors who, except as otherwise provided by the bill, serve staggered four-year terms. The bill establishes that the initial directors were appointed with terms by the TCEQ to serve until their successors are elected or have been appointed in accordance with applicable law. The bill requires subsequent directors to be elected in the manner provided by specified Water Code provisions generally applicable to all districts. The bill exempts the district from statutory municipal management district provisions providing for the recommendation for persons to serve on a succeeding board.

H.B. 5418 sets the current terms of directors initially appointed by the TCEQ to serve two-year terms to expire on the date of the general May election in 2024 and sets the current terms of directors initially appointed by the TCEQ to serve four-year terms to expire on the date of the general May election in 2026. The bill does the following if successor directors have not been elected and the terms of the initial directors have expired:

· authorizes the owner or owners of a majority of the assessed value of the real property in the district to submit a petition to the TCEQ requesting that the TCEQ appoint as successor directors the five persons named in the petition;

· requires the TCEQ to appoint as successor directors the five persons named in the petition; and

· requires successor directors to be appointed or reappointed in such manner to serve terms that expire on the earlier of the date successor directors are elected or the fourth anniversary of the date of the appointment or reappointment.

H.B. 5418 entitles a director to receive fees of office and reimbursement for actual expenses as provided by specified Water Code provisions generally applicable to all districts. The bill exempts the district's board from municipal management district provisions that do the following:

· prohibit a position on a board from being construed to be a civil office of emolument for any purpose; and

· establish that a director is not entitled to compensation for service on a board but is entitled to be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of a director.

H.B. 5418 authorizes the board by resolution to impose and collect an assessment for any purpose authorized by law in all or any part of the district. The bill exempts an assessment imposed by the district from a statutory prohibition against a municipal management district board imposing an impact fee, assessment, tax, or other requirement for payment, construction, alteration, or dedication on single-family detached residential property, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes.

H.B. 5418 establishes that the district retains all the rights, powers, privileges, authority, duties, and functions that it had before the bill's effective date.

H.B. 5418 provides for the validation and confirmation of the district's creation and of certain district actions and proceedings taken before the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.