1-1 By: Sims S.B. No. 504
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 26, 1993; March 1, 1993, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 March 8, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 11,
1-5 Nays 0; March 8, 1993, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-7 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-8 Sims x
1-9 Truan x
1-10 Armbrister x
1-11 Barrientos x
1-12 Bivins x
1-13 Brown x
1-14 Carriker x
1-15 Lucio x
1-16 Montford x
1-17 Ratliff x
1-18 Shelley x
1-19 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-20 AN ACT
1-21 relating to sale of water by the Lower Colorado River Authority.
1-22 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-23 SECTION 1. Section 2, Chapter 7, Acts of the 43rd
1-24 Legislature, 4th Called Session, 1934, is amended to read as
1-25 follows:
1-26 Sec. 2. Except as expressly limited by this Act, the
1-27 district shall have and is hereby authorized to exercise all
1-28 powers, rights, privileges and functions conferred by general law
1-29 upon any district or districts created pursuant to Section 59 of
1-30 Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas. Without
1-31 limitation of the generality of the foregoing, the district shall
1-32 have and is hereby authorized to exercise the following powers,
1-33 rights, privileges and functions:
1-34 (a) to control, store and preserve, within the
1-35 boundaries of the district, the waters of the Colorado River and
1-36 its tributaries and the lands of the district for any useful
1-37 purpose, and to use, distribute and sell the same, within the
1-38 boundaries of the district, or within the boundaries of the
1-39 watershed that contributes inflow to the Colorado River below the
1-40 intersection of Coleman, Brown, and McCulloch counties, for any
1-41 such purpose;
1-42 (b) to develop and generate water power and electric
1-43 energy within the boundaries of the district and to distribute and
1-44 sell water power and electric energy, within or without the
1-45 boundaries of the district;
1-46 (c) to prevent or aid within the boundaries of the
1-47 district in the prevention of damage to person or property from the
1-48 waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries;
1-49 (d) to forest and reforest and to aid in the foresting
1-50 and reforesting of the watershed area of the Colorado River and its
1-51 tributaries, within the boundaries of the district, and to prevent
1-52 and to aid in the prevention of soil erosion and floods within said
1-53 watershed area;
1-54 (e) to acquire by purchase, lease, gift or in any
1-55 other manner provided by law and to maintain, use and operate any
1-56 and all property of any kind, real, personal or mixed, or any
1-57 interest therein, within or without the boundaries of the district,
1-58 necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights,
1-59 privileges and functions conferred upon it by this Act;
1-60 (f) to acquire by condemnation any and all property of
1-61 any kind, real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein, within
1-62 or without the boundaries of the district (other than such property
1-63 or any interest therein without the boundaries of the district as
1-64 may at the time be owned by any body politic) necessary or
1-65 convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights, privileges and
1-66 functions conferred upon it by this Act, in the manner provided by
1-67 general law with respect to condemnation or, at the option of the
1-68 district, in the manner provided by the statutes relative to
2-1 condemnation by districts organized under general law pursuant to
2-2 Section 59 of Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas;
2-3 (g) subject to the provisions of this Act from time to
2-4 time to sell or otherwise dispose of any property of any kind,
2-5 real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein, which shall not
2-6 be necessary to the carrying on of the business of the district;
2-7 (h) to overflow and inundate within the boundaries of
2-8 the district any public lands and public property and to require
2-9 the relocation of roads, pipelines, transmission lines, railroads,
2-10 cemeteries and highways in the manner and to the extent permitted
2-11 to districts organized under general law pursuant to Section 59 of
2-12 Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas;
2-13 (i) to construct, extend, improve, maintain and
2-14 reconstruct, to cause to be constructed, extended, improved,
2-15 maintained and reconstructed, and to use and operate, any and all
2-16 facilities of any kind necessary or convenient to the exercise of
2-17 such powers, rights, privileges and functions;
2-18 (j) to sue and be sued in its corporate name;
2-19 (k) to adopt and use a corporate seal;
2-20 (l) to make bylaws for the management and regulation
2-21 of its affairs;
2-22 (m) to appoint officers, agents and employees, to
2-23 prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation;
2-24 (n) to make contracts and to execute instruments
2-25 necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights,
2-26 privileges and functions conferred upon it by this Act or permitted
2-27 by general law;
2-28 (o) to borrow money for its corporate purposes on
2-29 notes or other written evidence of indebtedness for a period not to
2-30 exceed five years as may be authorized from time to time by an
2-31 affirmative vote of 12 members of the board of directors which
2-32 loans or indebtedness shall be repaid from the proceeds of bonds of
2-33 the district at the next bond offering and, without limitation of
2-34 the generality of the foregoing, to borrow money, accept grants
2-35 from the United States of America, or the State of Texas, or from
2-36 any corporation or agency created or designated by the United
2-37 States of America or the State of Texas, and, in connection with
2-38 any such loans or grants, to enter into such agreements as the
2-39 United States of America, the State of Texas, or such corporation
2-40 or agency may require; and to make and issue its negotiable bonds
2-41 for moneys borrowed, in the manner provided in Section 11. Nothing
2-42 in this Act shall authorize the issuance of any bonds, notes or
2-43 other evidences of indebtedness of the district, except as
2-44 specifically provided in this Act;
2-45 (p) to provide for the study, correcting and control
2-46 of both artificial and natural pollution, including organic,
2-47 inorganic and thermal, of all ground or surface water of the
2-48 Colorado River and its tributaries within the boundaries of the
2-49 district. In this connection, the district is given the power to
2-50 promulgate by ordinance rules and regulations with regard to such
2-51 pollution, both artificial and natural, with the right of policing
2-52 by said district to enforce such rules and regulations and of
2-53 providing reasonable and commensurate penalties for the violation
2-54 of any rules and regulations, which penalties shall be cumulative
2-55 of any penalties fixed by general law in Texas, and not to exceed
2-56 the limit for penalties as fixed elsewhere in this Act. Provided,
2-57 however, that no ordinance enacted pursuant to the powers
2-58 hereinabove given the district by this section shall be promulgated
2-59 in any county or counties outside the existing boundaries of the
2-60 district;
2-61 (q) as a necessary aid to the conservation, control,
2-62 preservation, purification and distribution of surface and ground
2-63 waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries within the
2-64 boundaries of the district, the district shall have the power to
2-65 construct, own, operate, maintain or otherwise provide sewage
2-66 gathering, treatment and disposal services, including waste
2-67 disposal services, and to make contracts in reference thereto with
2-68 the United States, the State of Texas, counties, municipalities,
2-69 and others, and the district shall charge the actual cost of such
2-70 services;
3-1 (r) to develop and manage parks, recreational
3-2 facilities, and natural science laboratories, and to promote the
3-3 preservation of fish and wildlife within the boundaries of the
3-4 district. The district may negotiate contracts with any county,
3-5 municipality, municipal corporation, person, firm, corporation,
3-6 nonprofit organization, or state or federal agency for the
3-7 operation and maintenance of any such park, recreational facility
3-8 or natural science laboratory. The preservation of fish and
3-9 wildlife shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations, if
3-10 any, prescribed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the State
3-11 of Texas or its successor. Notwithstanding any other provisions of
3-12 this Act, the board of directors of the district shall have the
3-13 power to charge and collect reasonable entrance, gate, or use fees
3-14 for the development, management and use of parks and recreational
3-15 facilities developed in whole or in part by the district;
3-16 (s) to enter into such agreements as may be legally
3-17 authorized by Chapter 166, Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular
3-18 Session, 1973 (Article 1435a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), to
3-19 acquire, install, construct, operate, enlarge and make additions
3-20 to, and own and operate electric power and energy generating
3-21 facilities as provided in said article, in joint ownership with
3-22 others, either as cotenants or under such other arrangements as may
3-23 by a three-fourths vote of the statutory membership of the board be
3-24 approved, and, in accordance with and subject to the terms of such
3-25 agreements, if any, from time to time to sell or otherwise dispose
3-26 of any or all of this interest in such jointly owned electric power
3-27 and generating facilities. This subsection shall not apply to
3-28 generating facilities or other property wholly owned by the
3-29 district;
3-30 (t) to do any and all other acts or things necessary
3-31 or convenient, including, but not limited to, the control of the
3-32 use of the surface of any lakes or islands located therein
3-33 developed by the district and to levy a charge for the commercial
3-34 use thereof, to the exercise of all powers, rights, privileges,
3-35 authority or functions conferred upon it by the Constitution of
3-36 Texas, this Act or any other act or law;
3-37 (u) to enter into contracts with the State of Texas
3-38 through the State Board of Control providing for direct sale by the
3-39 district of electrical power to the state for use in buildings or
3-40 other facilities owned, leased, or rented by the state in Travis
3-41 County.
3-42 Provided, however, that said district shall not be permitted
3-43 to use for irrigation purposes any water under any permit or
3-44 permits hereafter acquired from any other company or person unless
3-45 expressly authorized by and granted to the district by the Texas
3-46 Water Rights Commission or its successor agency under authority of
3-47 law; and said Texas Water Rights Commission or its successor agency
3-48 in considering subsequent applications by said district shall at
3-49 all times consider the needs of the people living within and on
3-50 lands lying within the watershed of the Colorado River and its
3-51 tributaries above the district.
3-52 Provided that in creating and conferring the benefits of this
3-53 Act on said district, it is declared as an essential part thereof
3-54 that irrespective of any existing right or rights or permit or
3-55 permits issued by the Texas Water Rights Commission or its
3-56 successor agency or its predecessor agency to use the waters of the
3-57 Colorado River and its tributaries for the generation of
3-58 hydroelectric power and which rights or permits may be held or
3-59 acquired by the district, the impounding and use of the flood
3-60 waters of the Colorado River and/or its tributaries for the
3-61 generation of hydroelectric power by the district and/or anyone who
3-62 may succeed to the rights and privileges conferred upon it by this
3-63 Act, shall be subject to the rights of any other person, municipal
3-64 corporation or body politic heretofore or hereafter, under legal
3-65 grant of authority, impounding and putting to beneficial use any
3-66 such waters when such other person, municipal corporation or body
3-67 politic has received a permit for such use or uses from the Board
3-68 of Water Engineers of the State of Texas, the Texas Water Rights
3-69 Commission or its successor agency, or who by law has heretofore
3-70 been or hereafter may be permitted to impound water for the
4-1 aforesaid purposes, and nothing in this Act shall ever be construed
4-2 as to require any such municipal corporation or body politic to
4-3 surrender any such rights to which it may be legally entitled to
4-4 the district and shall not be construed so as to subject to
4-5 condemnation by said district or any successor or by anyone who may
4-6 succeed to the rights and privileges conferred upon it by this Act
4-7 any waters heretofore impounded or to be impounded within or
4-8 without the district under any law authorizing water to be
4-9 impounded or under any permits heretofore granted or hereafter
4-10 granted to a municipal corporation or body politic or any waters
4-11 heretofore impounded or permitted to be impounded or used without
4-12 the district under permits heretofore or hereafter legally granted
4-13 to any person.
4-14 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as depriving any
4-15 person or municipality of the right, legally granted, to impound
4-16 the waters of the Colorado River and/or its tributaries for
4-17 authorized beneficial uses, nor of repealing any law granting such
4-18 rights to persons and municipalities.
4-19 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-25 passage, and it is so enacted.
4-26 * * * * *
4-27 Austin,
4-28 Texas
4-29 March 8, 1993
4-30 Hon. Bob Bullock
4-31 President of the Senate
4-32 Sir:
4-33 We, your Committee on Natural Resources to which was referred S.B.
4-34 No. 504, have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed
4-35 to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
4-36 pass and be printed.
4-37 Sims,
4-38 Chairman
4-39 * * * * *
4-40 WITNESSES
4-41 FOR AGAINST ON
4-42 ___________________________________________________________________
4-43 Name: Gene Richardson x
4-44 Representing: Lower Colorado River Auth.
4-45 City: Round Rock
4-46 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-47 Name: Mark N. Rose x
4-48 Representing: LCRA
4-49 City: Austin
4-50 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-51 Name: Thomas G. Mason x
4-52 Representing: LCRA
4-53 City: Austin
4-54 -------------------------------------------------------------------
4-55 Name: Mark H. Jordon x
4-56 Representing: Tx Water Commission
4-57 City:
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4-59 Name: Bruce Wasinger x
4-60 Representing: Lower Colorado River Auth.
4-61 City: Austin
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