By: Sims S.B. No. 504
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to sale of water by the Lower Colorado River Authority.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 2, Chapter 7, Acts of the 43rd
1-4 Legislature, 4th Called Session, 1934, is amended to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 Sec. 2. Except as expressly limited by this Act, the
1-7 district shall have and is hereby authorized to exercise all
1-8 powers, rights, privileges and functions conferred by general law
1-9 upon any district or districts created pursuant to Section 59 of
1-10 Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas. Without
1-11 limitation of the generality of the foregoing, the district shall
1-12 have and is hereby authorized to exercise the following powers,
1-13 rights, privileges and functions:
1-14 (a) to control, store and preserve, within the
1-15 boundaries of the district, the waters of the Colorado River and
1-16 its tributaries and the lands of the district for any useful
1-17 purpose, and to use, distribute and sell the same, within the
1-18 boundaries of the district, or within the boundaries of the
1-19 watershed that contributes inflow to the Colorado River below the
1-20 intersection of Coleman, Brown, and McCulloch counties, for any
1-21 such purpose;
1-22 (b) to develop and generate water power and electric
1-23 energy within the boundaries of the district and to distribute and
1-24 sell water power and electric energy, within or without the
2-1 boundaries of the district;
2-2 (c) to prevent or aid within the boundaries of the
2-3 district in the prevention of damage to person or property from the
2-4 waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries;
2-5 (d) to forest and reforest and to aid in the foresting
2-6 and reforesting of the watershed area of the Colorado River and its
2-7 tributaries, within the boundaries of the district, and to prevent
2-8 and to aid in the prevention of soil erosion and floods within said
2-9 watershed area;
2-10 (e) to acquire by purchase, lease, gift or in any
2-11 other manner provided by law and to maintain, use and operate any
2-12 and all property of any kind, real, personal or mixed, or any
2-13 interest therein, within or without the boundaries of the district,
2-14 necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights,
2-15 privileges and functions conferred upon it by this Act;
2-16 (f) to acquire by condemnation any and all property of
2-17 any kind, real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein, within
2-18 or without the boundaries of the district (other than such property
2-19 or any interest therein without the boundaries of the district as
2-20 may at the time be owned by any body politic) necessary or
2-21 convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights, privileges and
2-22 functions conferred upon it by this Act, in the manner provided by
2-23 general law with respect to condemnation or, at the option of the
2-24 district, in the manner provided by the statutes relative to
2-25 condemnation by districts organized under general law pursuant to
2-26 Section 59 of Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas;
2-27 (g) subject to the provisions of this Act from time to
3-1 time to sell or otherwise dispose of any property of any kind,
3-2 real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein, which shall not
3-3 be necessary to the carrying on of the business of the district;
3-4 (h) to overflow and inundate within the boundaries of
3-5 the district any public lands and public property and to require
3-6 the relocation of roads, pipelines, transmission lines, railroads,
3-7 cemeteries and highways in the manner and to the extent permitted
3-8 to districts organized under general law pursuant to Section 59 of
3-9 Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas;
3-10 (i) to construct, extend, improve, maintain and
3-11 reconstruct, to cause to be constructed, extended, improved,
3-12 maintained and reconstructed, and to use and operate, any and all
3-13 facilities of any kind necessary or convenient to the exercise of
3-14 such powers, rights, privileges and functions;
3-15 (j) to sue and be sued in its corporate name;
3-16 (k) to adopt and use a corporate seal;
3-17 (l) to make bylaws for the management and regulation
3-18 of its affairs;
3-19 (m) to appoint officers, agents and employees, to
3-20 prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation;
3-21 (n) to make contracts and to execute instruments
3-22 necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights,
3-23 privileges and functions conferred upon it by this Act or permitted
3-24 by general law;
3-25 (o) to borrow money for its corporate purposes on
3-26 notes or other written evidence of indebtedness for a period not to
3-27 exceed five years as may be authorized from time to time by an
4-1 affirmative vote of 12 members of the board of directors which
4-2 loans or indebtedness shall be repaid from the proceeds of bonds of
4-3 the district at the next bond offering and, without limitation of
4-4 the generality of the foregoing, to borrow money, accept grants
4-5 from the United States of America, or the State of Texas, or from
4-6 any corporation or agency created or designated by the United
4-7 States of America or the State of Texas, and, in connection with
4-8 any such loans or grants, to enter into such agreements as the
4-9 United States of America, the State of Texas, or such corporation
4-10 or agency may require; and to make and issue its negotiable bonds
4-11 for moneys borrowed, in the manner provided in Section 11. Nothing
4-12 in this Act shall authorize the issuance of any bonds, notes or
4-13 other evidences of indebtedness of the district, except as
4-14 specifically provided in this Act;
4-15 (p) to provide for the study, correcting and control
4-16 of both artificial and natural pollution, including organic,
4-17 inorganic and thermal, of all ground or surface water of the
4-18 Colorado River and its tributaries within the boundaries of the
4-19 district. In this connection, the district is given the power to
4-20 promulgate by ordinance rules and regulations with regard to such
4-21 pollution, both artificial and natural, with the right of policing
4-22 by said district to enforce such rules and regulations and of
4-23 providing reasonable and commensurate penalties for the violation
4-24 of any rules and regulations, which penalties shall be cumulative
4-25 of any penalties fixed by general law in Texas, and not to exceed
4-26 the limit for penalties as fixed elsewhere in this Act. Provided,
4-27 however, that no ordinance enacted pursuant to the powers
5-1 hereinabove given the district by this section shall be promulgated
5-2 in any county or counties outside the existing boundaries of the
5-3 district;
5-4 (q) as a necessary aid to the conservation, control,
5-5 preservation, purification and distribution of surface and ground
5-6 waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries within the
5-7 boundaries of the district, the district shall have the power to
5-8 construct, own, operate, maintain or otherwise provide sewage
5-9 gathering, treatment and disposal services, including waste
5-10 disposal services, and to make contracts in reference thereto with
5-11 the United States, the State of Texas, counties, municipalities,
5-12 and others, and the district shall charge the actual cost of such
5-13 services;
5-14 (r) to develop and manage parks, recreational
5-15 facilities, and natural science laboratories, and to promote the
5-16 preservation of fish and wildlife within the boundaries of the
5-17 district. The district may negotiate contracts with any county,
5-18 municipality, municipal corporation, person, firm, corporation,
5-19 nonprofit organization, or state or federal agency for the
5-20 operation and maintenance of any such park, recreational facility
5-21 or natural science laboratory. The preservation of fish and
5-22 wildlife shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations, if
5-23 any, prescribed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the State
5-24 of Texas or its successor. Notwithstanding any other provisions of
5-25 this Act, the board of directors of the district shall have the
5-26 power to charge and collect reasonable entrance, gate, or use fees
5-27 for the development, management and use of parks and recreational
6-1 facilities developed in whole or in part by the district;
6-2 (s) to enter into such agreements as may be legally
6-3 authorized by Chapter 166, Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular
6-4 Session, 1973 (Article 1435a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), to
6-5 acquire, install, construct, operate, enlarge and make additions
6-6 to, and own and operate electric power and energy generating
6-7 facilities as provided in said article, in joint ownership with
6-8 others, either as cotenants or under such other arrangements as may
6-9 by a three-fourths vote of the statutory membership of the board be
6-10 approved, and, in accordance with and subject to the terms of such
6-11 agreements, if any, from time to time to sell or otherwise dispose
6-12 of any or all of this interest in such jointly owned electric power
6-13 and generating facilities. This subsection shall not apply to
6-14 generating facilities or other property wholly owned by the
6-15 district;
6-16 (t) to do any and all other acts or things necessary
6-17 or convenient, including, but not limited to, the control of the
6-18 use of the surface of any lakes or islands located therein
6-19 developed by the district and to levy a charge for the commercial
6-20 use thereof, to the exercise of all powers, rights, privileges,
6-21 authority or functions conferred upon it by the Constitution of
6-22 Texas, this Act or any other act or law;
6-23 (u) to enter into contracts with the State of Texas
6-24 through the State Board of Control providing for direct sale by the
6-25 district of electrical power to the state for use in buildings or
6-26 other facilities owned, leased, or rented by the state in Travis
6-27 County.
7-1 Provided, however, that said district shall not be permitted
7-2 to use for irrigation purposes any water under any permit or
7-3 permits hereafter acquired from any other company or person unless
7-4 expressly authorized by and granted to the district by the Texas
7-5 Water Rights Commission or its successor agency under authority of
7-6 law; and said Texas Water Rights Commission or its successor agency
7-7 in considering subsequent applications by said district shall at
7-8 all times consider the needs of the people living within and on
7-9 lands lying within the watershed of the Colorado River and its
7-10 tributaries above the district.
7-11 Provided that in creating and conferring the benefits of this
7-12 Act on said district, it is declared as an essential part thereof
7-13 that irrespective of any existing right or rights or permit or
7-14 permits issued by the Texas Water Rights Commission or its
7-15 successor agency or its predecessor agency to use the waters of the
7-16 Colorado River and its tributaries for the generation of
7-17 hydroelectric power and which rights or permits may be held or
7-18 acquired by the district, the impounding and use of the flood
7-19 waters of the Colorado River and/or its tributaries for the
7-20 generation of hydroelectric power by the district and/or anyone who
7-21 may succeed to the rights and privileges conferred upon it by this
7-22 Act, shall be subject to the rights of any other person, municipal
7-23 corporation or body politic heretofore or hereafter, under legal
7-24 grant of authority, impounding and putting to beneficial use any
7-25 such waters when such other person, municipal corporation or body
7-26 politic has received a permit for such use or uses from the Board
7-27 of Water Engineers of the State of Texas, the Texas Water Rights
8-1 Commission or its successor agency, or who by law has heretofore
8-2 been or hereafter may be permitted to impound water for the
8-3 aforesaid purposes, and nothing in this Act shall ever be construed
8-4 as to require any such municipal corporation or body politic to
8-5 surrender any such rights to which it may be legally entitled to
8-6 the district and shall not be construed so as to subject to
8-7 condemnation by said district or any successor or by anyone who may
8-8 succeed to the rights and privileges conferred upon it by this Act
8-9 any waters heretofore impounded or to be impounded within or
8-10 without the district under any law authorizing water to be
8-11 impounded or under any permits heretofore granted or hereafter
8-12 granted to a municipal corporation or body politic or any waters
8-13 heretofore impounded or permitted to be impounded or used without
8-14 the district under permits heretofore or hereafter legally granted
8-15 to any person.
8-16 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as depriving any
8-17 person or municipality of the right, legally granted, to impound
8-18 the waters of the Colorado River and/or its tributaries for
8-19 authorized beneficial uses, nor of repealing any law granting such
8-20 rights to persons and municipalities.
8-21 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
8-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
8-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
8-27 passage, and it is so enacted.