1-1  By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1462
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1995; March 21, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
    1-4  Relations; May 3, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable
    1-5  Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0;
    1-6  May 3, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-7  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1462               By:  Wentworth
    1-8                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-9                                AN ACT
   1-10  relating to the authority of a county to operate a water or sewer
   1-11  utility in unincorporated areas of a county, including the
   1-12  authority to acquire property through eminent domain.
   1-13        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-14        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 412, Local Government Code,
   1-15  is amended by adding Section 412.015 to read as follows:
   1-16        Sec. 412.015.  COUNTY WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM.  (a)  Except as
   1-17  provided by this section, a county may acquire, own, or operate a
   1-18  water or sewer utility system to serve an unincorporated area of
   1-19  the county in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as a
   1-20  municipality under Chapter 402.
   1-21        (b)  A county may issue bonds payable solely from the revenue
   1-22  generated by the water or sewer utility system and such revenue
   1-23  bonds and notes of the county shall not be deemed an indebtedness,
   1-24  a liability, a general, special, or moral obligation, or a pledge
   1-25  or loan of the faith or credit or taxing power of the state, the
   1-26  county, or any other political subdivision or governmental unit,
   1-27  nor shall such revenue bonds and notes constitute an indebtedness
   1-28  within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory debt
   1-29  limitation or restriction or an agreement, obligation, or
   1-30  indebtedness of the county or the state within the meaning of any
   1-31  constitutional or statutory provision.  Nothing in this subsection
   1-32  shall be construed to mean that a county is authorized to issue
   1-33  general obligation bonds payable from ad valorem taxes for the
   1-34  purpose of acquiring, owning, or operating a water or sewer utility
   1-35  system to serve an unincorporated area of the county, a county
   1-36  being specifically prohibited from issuing general obligation bonds
   1-37  payable from ad valorem taxes for such purposes.
   1-38        (c)  A county may acquire any interest in property necessary
   1-39  to operate a system authorized by this section through any means,
   1-40  including eminent domain.
   1-41        (d)  A county may not provide water or sewer service to an
   1-42  area in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality or an
   1-43  area to which a holder of a certificate of public convenience and
   1-44  necessity must provide service under Section 13.250, Water Code,
   1-45  without the consent of the municipality or the holder of the
   1-46  certificate.
   1-47        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-48        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-49  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-50  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-51  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-52  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-53                               * * * * *