S.B. No. 219
AN ACT
1-1 relating to community assistance and economic development program
1-2 activities of certain river authorities; validating certain actions
1-3 and instruments of the river authorities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 245, Acts of the 67th
1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1981 (Article 717p, Vernon's Texas
1-7 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 3. (a) This section applies only to a <Any> river
1-9 authority that <which> is engaged in the distribution and sale of
1-10 electric energy to the public and that generates at least an annual
1-11 average of 55 million kilowatt hours of electric energy.
1-12 (b) A river authority may sponsor and participate in an
1-13 economic development program intended to strengthen the economic
1-14 base and further the economic development of the state. The
1-15 program shall be within the territorial boundaries of the river
1-16 authority or within the river authority's electric or water service
1-17 areas. Participation in the program may not be conditioned on
1-18 receiving electric service from the authority.
1-19 (c) Each program must be established by formal action of the
1-20 governing body of the river authority. The governing body of the
1-21 river authority shall:
1-22 (1) establish the goals of the program;
1-23 (2) impose requirements on persons participating in
1-24 and receiving the benefits of the program; and
2-1 (3) provide restrictions, procedures, and budget
2-2 limits the governing body determines are necessary to ensure that
2-3 the governmental purposes of this section and the program are
2-4 achieved.
2-5 (d) A program under this section may involve grants or loans
2-6 of money, services, or property to a person engaged in an economic
2-7 development activity, including a public fire-fighting
2-8 organization, governmental body, nonprofit corporation, local or
2-9 regional development council, or other nonprofit or noncommercial
2-10 organization.
2-11 (e) The river authority may employ staff and expend its
2-12 resources to further an economic development program except the
2-13 river authority may not use money received from an ad valorem tax
2-14 or a general appropriation to further a program. The river
2-15 authority may apply for and receive money, grants, or other
2-16 assistance from any source to carry out an economic development
2-17 program under this section.
2-18 (f) The river authority and any other public or private
2-19 person may enter an agreement with respect to an economic
2-20 development program.
2-21 (g) A river authority that provides scholarships, grants,
2-22 loans, or financial assistance to a public fire-fighting
2-23 organization shall adopt guidelines for the determination of:
2-24 (1) eligibility for the assistance;
2-25 (2) the amount of loans, grants, or other assistance
2-26 the river authority may make available to a fire-fighting
2-27 organization; and
3-1 (3) the types of equipment, facilities, education, or
3-2 training for which the assistance may be used.
3-3 (h) A determination by the governing body of the river
3-4 authority that a program is intended and expected to carry out the
3-5 program's stated purposes is conclusive with respect to whether the
3-6 purposes of this section are satisfied.
3-7 (i) A river authority may not make receiving electric
3-8 service from the authority a condition for participation in or
3-9 receiving a benefit from an economic development program authorized
3-10 by this section. A river authority may not use an economic
3-11 development program to:
3-12 (1) promote fuel switching or the substitution of
3-13 electric power for another fuel or energy source; or
3-14 (2) provide an economic or other incentive to use
3-15 electric power to preferentially market the use of electric power
3-16 over another fuel or energy source.
3-17 (j) Subsection (i) of this section does not limit a power
3-18 granted a river authority by any other law, including other
3-19 sections of this Act.
3-20 (k) For purposes of this section, an economic development
3-21 program does not include the promotion of retail wheeling of
3-22 electric power and energy.
3-23 (l) In this section, an economic development program
3-24 includes any program designed to:
3-25 (1) encourage economic diversification;
3-26 (2) contribute to the health and development of a
3-27 community to improve the attractiveness of the community to public
4-1 and private enterprises; or
4-2 (3) improve the quality or quantity of services
4-3 essential for the development of viable communities and economic
4-4 growth, including services related to:
4-5 (A) education;
4-6 (B) transportation;
4-7 (C) public safety;
4-8 (D) recreation;
4-9 (E) health care;
4-10 (F) training;
4-11 (G) community planning; or
4-12 (H) employment <may employ staff and expend
4-13 resources to encourage economic development>.
4-14 SECTION 2. The legislature finds that the economic
4-15 development programs authorized by Section 3, Chapter 245, Acts of
4-16 the 67th Legislature, Regular Session, 1981 (Article 717p, Vernon's
4-17 Texas Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, are a specific
4-18 public purpose and governmental function of the specified river
4-19 authorities in accordance with:
4-20 (1) Section 52-a, Article III, Texas Constitution; and
4-21 (2) to the extent that the programs provide assistance
4-22 to public fire-fighting organizations, Section 51-a-1, Article III,
4-23 Texas Constitution.
4-24 SECTION 3. All proceedings, governmental acts, resolutions,
4-25 orders, bonds, contracts, and instruments relating to economic
4-26 development programs, as defined by Section 3, Chapter 245, Acts of
4-27 the 67th Legislature, Regular Session, 1981 (Article 717p, Vernon's
5-1 Texas Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, of a river authority
5-2 engaged in the distribution and sale of electric energy to the
5-3 public that were adopted, approved, executed, issued, or ratified
5-4 by the river authority before the effective date of this Act are
5-5 validated, ratified, approved, and confirmed.
5-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-12 passage, and it is so enacted.