BLS H.B. 376 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS NATURAL RESOURCES H.B. 376 By: Rodriguez 3-19-97 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND From 1948 until the passage of Senate Bill 626 by the 74th Legislature, the Bexar Metropolitan Water District was required to receive approval from the Office of the Attorney General before issuing bonds. This safeguard still remains necessary. However, with the codification of Texas' water laws by the 74th Legislature, where requirements on certain types of districts were collectively applied to all water districts, the mandate of preapproval for bond issues that was applied to most water districts also came to apply to the Bexar Metropolitan Water District. The special statute which created the Bexar Metropolitan Water District in 1945 characterized it in and of itself as a public agency. Requiring this public agency, with an elected board, to go through two sets of other governmental agency approval procedures simply because of a sweeping codification, is not necessary. TNRCC also agrees that its approval of bond issues for the Bexar Metropolitan Water District is unnecessary. PURPOSE To amend the original 1945 law which created the Bexar Metropolitan Water District to exempt two sections of the Water Code from applying to the issuance or sale of bonds by that district. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Adds Section 15A to the Bexar Metropolitan Water District creation statute to exempt the Bexar Metropolitan Water District from Water Code Sections 49.181 and 49.183 insofar as they deal with the issuance and sale of district bonds. SECTION 2. Local bill approval compliance clauses. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Committee Amendment No. 1: In Section 1 of the bill, adds a new Section 15B to the District's creation statute to provide as follows: requires the District to take actions deemed necessary and desirable by the Board to conserve and protect the water in the Edwards Aquifer; allows the District to issue bonds and to acquire, construct, purchase, improve, renovate, or take any other similar action to provide facilities designed to achieve such purposes, including, but not limited to, entering into certain agreements deemed by the Board to be advantageous to the District.