By: Sims S.B. No. 641
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to rural rail transportation districts.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Amend Section 5, Chapter 623, Acts of 67th
1-4 Legislature (Art. 6550c, V.A.T.S.) to read as follows:
1-5 Sec. 5. (a) A rural rail transportation district is a
1-6 public body exercising public and essential governmental functions
1-7 and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out the
1-8 purposes of this Act, including the powers granted in this section.
1-9 (b) A district has perpetual succession.
1-10 (c) A district may sue and be sued in all courts of
1-11 competent jurisdiction, may institute and prosecute suits without
1-12 giving security for costs, and may appeal from a judgment without
1-13 giving supersedeas or cost bond.
1-14 (d) A district may acquire by grant, purchase, gift, devise,
1-15 lease, or otherwise and may hold, use, sell, lease, or dispose of
1-16 real and personal property, licenses, patents, rights, and
1-17 interests necessary, convenient, or useful for the full exercise of
1-18 any of its powers under this Act.
1-19 (e) A district may acquire, construct, own, operate, and
1-20 maintain a system within its boundaries, both inside and outside
1-21 the limits of incorporated cities, towns and villages, and has the
1-22 right to use the streets, alleys, roads, highways, and other public
1-23 ways and to relocate, raise, lower, reroute, regulate, change the
2-1 grade of, and alter the construction of any street, alley, highway,
2-2 or road; any railroad track, bridge, or other facility or property;
2-3 any gas transmission or distribution pipes, pipelines, mains, or
2-4 other facility or property; any water, sanitary sewer, or storm
2-5 sewer pipes, pipelines, or other facility or property; any electric
2-6 lines, telegraph or telephone facility or property; any cable
2-7 television lines, cables, conduits, or other facility or property;
2-8 and pipelines and facilities, conduits and facilities, or other
2-9 property whether publicly or privately owned, in the construction,
2-10 reconstruction, repair, maintenance, or operation of the system. A
2-11 district shall pay the cost of any change made under this
2-12 subsection and is liable for any damage to property occurring
2-13 because of the change.
2-14 (f) A district has the right of eminent domain to acquire
2-15 lands in fee simple and any interest less than fee simple in, on,
2-16 under, or above lands, including, without limitation, easements,
2-17 rights-of-way, rights of use of airspace or subsurface space. The
2-18 right may not be exercised in a manner that would unduly interfere
2-19 with interstate commerce or unduly impair the neighborhood
2-20 character of property surrounding or adjacent to the property
2-21 sought to be condemned. Eminent domain proceedings brought by a
2-22 district are governed by Title 52, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas,
2-23 1925, except as it is inconsistent with this Act. Proceedings for
2-24 the exercise of the power of eminent domain are commenced by the
2-25 adoption by the board of a resolution declaring the public
3-1 necessity for the acquisition by the district of the property or
3-2 interest described in the resolution, and that the acquisition is
3-3 necessary and proper for the construction, extension, improvement,
3-4 or development of the system and is in the public interest. The
3-5 resolution of the district is conclusive evidence of the public
3-6 necessity of the proposed acquisition and that the real or personal
3-7 property or interest in property is necessary for public use.
3-8 (g) A district may enter into agreements with any other
3-9 public utility, private utility, communication system, common
3-10 carrier, or transportation system for the joint use of its
3-11 facilities, installations, or properties within the district and
3-12 establish through routes, joint fares, and, subject to approval of
3-13 any tariff-regulating body having jurisdiction, divisions of
3-14 tariffs.
3-15 (h) A district shall establish and maintain rents or other
3-16 compensation for the use of the facilities of the system acquired,
3-17 constructed, operated, regulated, or maintained by the district
3-18 that are reasonable and nondiscriminatory and, together with grants
3-19 received by the district, are sufficient to produce revenues
3-20 adequate:
3-21 (1) to pay all expenses necessary to the operation and
3-22 maintenance of the properties and facilities of the district;
3-23 (2) to pay the interest on and principal of all bonds
3-24 issued by the district under this Act payable in whole or in part
3-25 from the revenues, as they become due and payable; and
4-1 (3) to fulfill the terms of any agreements made with
4-2 the holders of bonds or with any person in their behalf.
4-3 (i) A district may make contracts, leases, and agreements
4-4 with, and accept grants and loans from the United States of
4-5 America, its departments and agencies, the state, its agencies, and
4-6 political subdivisions, and public or private corporations and
4-7 persons, and may generally perform all acts necessary for the full
4-8 exercise of the powers vested in it. A district may acquire
4-9 rolling stock or other property under conditional sales contracts,
4-10 leases, equipment trust certificates, or any other form of contract
4-11 or trust agreement. Any revenue bond indenture may provide
4-12 limitations on the exercise of the powers granted by this section,
4-13 and the limitations apply so long as any of the revenue bonds
4-14 issued pursuant to the indenture are outstanding and unpaid.
4-15 (j) A district may sell, lease, convey, or otherwise dispose
4-16 of any of its rights, interests, or properties not needed for or,
4-17 in the case of leases, not inconsistent with the efficient
4-18 operation and maintenance of the system. It may sell, lease, or
4-19 otherwise dispose of, at any time, any surplus materials or
4-20 personal or real property not needed for its requirements or for
4-21 the purpose of carrying out its power under this Act.
4-22 (k) A district by resolution may adopt rules and regulations
4-23 governing the use, operation, and maintenance of the system and
4-24 shall determine all routings and change them whenever the board
4-25 considers it advisable.
5-1 (l) A district may lease the system or any part to, or
5-2 contract for the use or operation of the system or any part by, any
5-3 operator. A district shall encourage to the maximum extent
5-4 practicable the participation of private enterprise in the
5-5 operation of the system. The provisions of Section 8 of this
5-6 Article apply to any such private enterprise participant.
5-7 (m) A district may contract with any county or other
5-8 political subdivision of the state for the district to provide rail
5-9 transportation services to any area outside the boundaries of the
5-10 district on such terms and conditions as may be agreed to by the
5-11 parties.
5-12 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
5-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
5-18 terms, and it is so enacted.