SLC S.B. 1558 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS LAND & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT S.B. 1558 By: Wentworth (B. Turner) 5-15-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently, the Water Code provides no method for enlarging an existing defined area within which taxes have been imposed and improvements are being constructed. This bill allows the owner of land, whether inside or outside the water control and improvement district, to petition for inclusion in an existing defined area. PURPOSE CSSB 1558 authorizes a landowner to add land to a defined area within a water control and improvement district under certain conditions. 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. Amends Subchapter L, Chapter 51, Water Code, by adding Section 51.5301, as follows: Sec. 51.5301. ADDING LAND TO DEFINED AREA BY PETITION OF LANDOWNER. (a) Authorizes the owner of land, subject to a water quality plan approved by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, to file with the board of directors (board) of a district a petition requesting that the land described by metes and bounds in the petition, whether contiguous or not to the defined area, be included within the defined area previously established pursuant to Section 51.518. (b) Authorizes the board to require the petitioner or petitioners to assume their share of the outstanding bonds, notes, or other obligations and the voted but unissued tax bonds of the defined area and authorize the board to levy a tax on their property in each year in which any of the obligations payable in whole or in part from taxation on the defined area are outstanding to pay their share of the indebtedness. (c) Requires a petition of the landowner to add land to the defined area to be signed and executed in the manner provided by law for the conveyance of real estate. (d) Requires the board to hear and consider the petition and may add to the defined area the land described in the petition if it is feasible, practicable, and to the advantage of the defined area and if the defined area's system and other improvements of the defined are are sufficient or will be sufficient to supply the added land without injuring land already in the defined area. (e) Authorizes the board to issue the voted but unissued bonds even though the boundaries of the defined area have been altered since the authorization of the bonds under certain conditions. (f) Requires the granted petition to be filed for record and to be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county or counties in which the added land is located. SECTION 2. (a) Provides that, with respect to a water control and improvement district which operates as a municipal utility district under Chapter 54, Texas Water Code, in a county with population of more than 1.8 million, which has boundaries that extend to the corporate limits of three or more municipalities and is the holder of a certificate of convenience and necessity for water services, the legislature finds that the boundaries of such district shall be the same as the boundaries of the district's certificate of convenience and necessity as of the effective date of this Act. The metes and bounds description provided by the district to the commission after the effective date of this Act constitute the legal metes and bounds description of the district's territory. (b) States that an exclusion of land under this section does not affect, diminish, or impair the rights of the holders of any outstanding and unpaid bonds, warrants, or other obligations of the district or the obligation of the board annually to adjust the adjust the district's rates to provide sufficient revenues for debt service. (c) States that any land excluded under this section is not released from the payment of its pro rata share of the district's indebtedness. (d) States that the district shall continue to provide the same level of service to any existing customers that might have been excluded as a result of this section and at rates equivalent to rates charged to customers within its boundaries. SECTION 3. Emergency Clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE CSSB 1558 deletes the original language contained in SECTION 2. (a) of the bill and inserts new language that provides that, with respect to a water control and improvement district which operates as a municipal utility district under Chapter 54, Texas Water Code, in a county with population of more than 1.8 million, which has boundaries that extend to the corporate limits of three or more municipalities and is the holder of a certificate of convenience and necessity for water services, the legislature finds that the boundaries of such district shall be the same as the boundaries of the district's certificate of convenience and necessity as of the effective date of this Act. CSSB 1558 also deletes the original language contained in SECTION 2. (b) of the bill and renumbers the existing subsections accordingly. Additionally, CSSB 1558 deletes (f) that was contained in SECTION 2 of the original legislation. CSSB 1558 also deletes the provisions of the original legislation that were contained in SECTION 3 and SECTION 4.