H.B. No. 690
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to collection by a water or sewer service corporation of
    1-3  voluntary contributions on behalf of certain emergency services.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 76, Acts of the 43rd Legislature, 1st
    1-6  Called Session, 1933 (Article 1434a, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-7  Statutes), is amended by adding Section 4A to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 4A.  (a)  A corporation may implement as part of its
    1-9  billing process a program under which the corporation collects from
   1-10  its customers voluntary contributions on behalf of a volunteer fire
   1-11  department or an emergency medical service.  In this section,
   1-12  "voluntary contribution" includes a voluntary membership or
   1-13  subscription fee.
   1-14        (b)  A corporation that collects contributions under this
   1-15  section shall provide each customer at the time that the customer
   1-16  first subscribes to the water or sewer service, and at least
   1-17  annually thereafter, a written statement:
   1-18              (1)  describing the procedure by which the customer may
   1-19  make a contribution with the customer's bill payment;
   1-20              (2)  designating the volunteer fire department or
   1-21  emergency medical service to which the corporation will deliver the
   1-22  contribution;
   1-23              (3)  informing the customer that a contribution is
   1-24  voluntary; and
    2-1              (4)  describing the deductibility status of the
    2-2  contribution under federal income tax law.
    2-3        (c)  Any billing by the corporation that includes a voluntary
    2-4  contribution under this section must clearly state that the
    2-5  contribution is voluntary and that it may be deducted from the
    2-6  billed amount.
    2-7        (d)  The corporation shall promptly deliver contributions
    2-8  that it collects under this section to the volunteer fire
    2-9  department or emergency medical service designated in the statement
   2-10  required by Subsection (b) of this section, except that the
   2-11  corporation may keep from the contributions an amount equal to the
   2-12  smaller of:
   2-13              (1)  the corporation's expenses in administering the
   2-14  contribution program; or
   2-15              (2)  five percent of the amount collected as
   2-16  contributions.
   2-17        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-22  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-23  passage, and it is so enacted.