73R5062 JJT-F
By Nieto H.B. No. 2460
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the exclusion of nonirrigated or nonirrigable property
1-3 located within the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Control and
1-4 Improvement District No. 1.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-7 (1) "Board" means the Board of Directors of the
1-8 Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Control and Improvement
1-9 District No. 1.
1-10 (2) "District" means the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa
1-11 Counties Water Control and Improvement District No. 1.
1-12 SECTION 2. AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE PROPERTY. The district may
1-13 exclude property from the district if the board finds after notice
1-14 and hearing that exclusion of the property is in the best interest
1-15 of the district and that:
1-16 (1) the property is not irrigable with water purchased
1-17 from the district because:
1-18 (A) the district cannot deliver water by gravity
1-19 flow to a high point on the property to irrigate the property;
1-20 (B) the property is subdivided into tracts of
1-21 less than 10 acres; or
1-22 (C) the property is subdivided into town lots,
1-23 town lots and blocks, or similar small parcels of any size that
1-24 will not be used for agricultural purposes or are suitable for a
2-1 residential, a commercial, or another nonagricultural purpose; or
2-2 (2) the property has not been irrigated with water
2-3 purchased from the district for a period of not less than three
2-4 years before the date the notice for the hearing was mailed.
2-5 SECTION 3. HEARING ON PROPOSAL TO EXCLUDE PROPERTY; NOTICE.
2-6 (a) If the board has information that property in the district is
2-7 not irrigated or irrigable, the board may call and hold a hearing
2-8 to determine whether to exclude the property.
2-9 (b) The board by certified mail, return receipt requested,
2-10 not earlier than the 21st day or later than the 16th day before the
2-11 date of the hearing shall issue written notice of the hearing to
2-12 each owner of property in the area proposed to be excluded as shown
2-13 on the current tax rolls of the district. The notice must:
2-14 (1) describe the property proposed to be excluded;
2-15 (2) describe the basis for the proposed exclusion;
2-16 (3) state the time, date, and location of the hearing;
2-17 and
2-18 (4) advise that an interested property owner has the
2-19 right to appear at the hearing to offer evidence to contest the
2-20 exclusion.
2-21 (c) The board shall publish notice of the hearing at least
2-22 once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general
2-23 circulation in each county in which the property proposed to be
2-24 excluded is located. The first notice must appear not earlier than
2-25 the 40th day before or later than the 16th day before the date of
2-26 the hearing. The notice must:
2-27 (1) describe the property proposed to be excluded;
3-1 (2) state the time, date, and location of the hearing;
3-2 and
3-3 (3) advise that an interested property owner has the
3-4 right to appear at the hearing and to offer evidence to contest the
3-5 exclusion.
3-6 SECTION 4. SUIT TO REVIEW; APPEAL. An interested person may
3-7 bring a suit to review an order of the board excluding property
3-8 under this Act in the manner provided by Sections 51.698-51.700,
3-9 Water Code, and may appeal as provided by Section 51.701, Water
3-10 Code, and their subsequent amendments.
3-11 SECTION 5. NOTICE TO COMMISSION. The board shall furnish to
3-12 the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission a copy of the
3-13 order excluding the property not later than the 30th day after the
3-14 date the board issues the order.
3-15 SECTION 6. CONSENT FROM HOLDERS OF INDEBTEDNESS. If the
3-16 district has outstanding bonded indebtedness, or indebtedness under
3-17 a loan from a governmental agency, a written consent from an
3-18 authorized representative of the holder or holders of the
3-19 indebtedness consenting to the exclusion shall be obtained and
3-20 filed with the district before the hearing.
3-21 SECTION 7. RESULTS OF EXCLUSION ORDER. (a) Property
3-22 excluded under this Act is not within the district and is not
3-23 entitled to purchase water from or to receive any other service
3-24 from the district.
3-25 (b) Taxes, assessments, or other charges on the excluded
3-26 property that are owed to the district at the time the order of
3-27 exclusion takes effect remain the obligation of the owner of the
4-1 excluded property and continue to be secured by statutory liens on
4-2 the property, if any.
4-3 (c) After property is excluded, the owner of the property
4-4 has no further liability to the district for future taxes,
4-5 assessments, or other charges of the district based on that
4-6 property.
4-7 SECTION 8. RECORDATION. The district shall record, in the
4-8 real property records of the county in which the excluded property
4-9 is located, a copy of the order excluding the property from the
4-10 district. The copy must be certified and acknowledged by the
4-11 secretary of the board.
4-12 SECTION 9. DISTRICT FACILITIES AND EASEMENTS ON EXCLUDED
4-13 PROPERTY. The order to exclude property does not affect or
4-14 interfere with any rights that the district has to maintain and
4-15 continue operation of any easements, canals, ditches, pipelines,
4-16 pumps, or other facilities of the district that are located on
4-17 excluded property for the purpose of servicing property remaining
4-18 in the district.
4-19 SECTION 10. SUBSTITUTION FOR EXCLUDED PROPERTY. (a) At the
4-20 sole discretion of the board, after the exclusion order is issued
4-21 by the board, property may be added to the district if the property
4-22 is:
4-23 (1) practically irrigable with water purchased from
4-24 the district; and
4-25 (2) in the aggregate less than or equal to the acreage
4-26 of property being excluded.
4-27 (b) Property may be added to the district under this Act
5-1 only if the owner of the property files a petition requesting
5-2 inclusion. If the owner already has acreage within the district,
5-3 all taxes and other assessments owed to the district by the owner
5-4 must be current before the petition may be considered by the board.
5-5 SECTION 11. CUMULATIVE EFFECT. The rights, remedies, and
5-6 powers conferred by this Act on the district are cumulative of all
5-7 other rights, remedies, and powers otherwise available to the
5-8 district under general law. This Act prevails over any conflict
5-9 with the general law that applies to the district.
5-10 SECTION 12. TRANSITION PROVISION. The reference in Section
5-11 5 of this Act to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
5-12 means the Texas Water Commission until the name of the Texas Water
5-13 Commission is changed to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
5-14 Commission as provided by Section 1.085, Chapter 3, Acts of the
5-15 72nd Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1991.
5-16 SECTION 13. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
5-17 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-22 passage, and it is so enacted.