By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1462
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of a county to operate a water or sewer
    1-2  utility in unincorporated areas of a county, including the
    1-3  authority to acquire property through eminent domain.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 412, Local Government Code,
    1-6  is amended by adding Section 412.015 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 412.015.  COUNTY WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM.  (a)  Except as
    1-8  provided by this section, a county may acquire, own, or operate a
    1-9  water or sewer utility system to serve an unincorporated area of
   1-10  the county in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as a
   1-11  municipality under Chapter 402.
   1-12        (b)  A county may issue bonds payable solely from the revenue
   1-13  generated by the water or sewer utility system and such revenue
   1-14  bonds and notes of the county shall not be deemed an indebtedness,
   1-15  a liability, a general, special, or moral obligation, or a pledge
   1-16  or loan of the faith or credit or taxing power of the state, the
   1-17  county, or any other political subdivision or governmental unit,
   1-18  nor shall such revenue bonds and notes constitute an indebtedness
   1-19  within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory debt
   1-20  limitation or restriction or an agreement, obligation, or
   1-21  indebtedness of the county or the state within the meaning of any
   1-22  constitutional or statutory provision.  Nothing in this subsection
   1-23  shall be construed to mean that a county is authorized to issue
    2-1  general obligation bonds payable from ad valorem taxes for the
    2-2  purpose of acquiring, owning, or operating a water or sewer utility
    2-3  system to serve an unincorporated area of the county, a county
    2-4  being specifically prohibited from issuing general obligation bonds
    2-5  payable from ad valorem taxes for such purposes.
    2-6        (c)  A county may acquire any interest in property necessary
    2-7  to operate a system authorized by this section through any means,
    2-8  including eminent domain.  A county shall not exercise the power of
    2-9  eminent domain inside the corporate limits of a municipality.
   2-10        (d)  A county may not provide water or sewer service to an
   2-11  area in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality or an
   2-12  area to which a holder of a certificate of public convenience and
   2-13  necessity must provide service under Section 13.250, Water Code,
   2-14  without the consent of the municipality or the holder of the
   2-15  certificate.
   2-16        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.