By Eiland H.B. No. 1692
75R4342 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation of publicly owned and operated harbor and
1-3 port facilities located in certain municipalities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3(b), Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th
1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas
1-7 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (b) If the management and control of the improvements and
1-9 facilities is placed in the hands of a board of trustees by
1-10 ordinance or Charter under Subsection (a) of this section, the
1-11 board of trustees constitutes a body politic and corporate for the
1-12 purpose of issuing bonds or other obligations and other purposes
1-13 and shall have and exercise, in addition to the powers enumerated
1-14 in the ordinance or Charter, the following powers and authority:
1-15 (1) to exercise full management, control, maintenance,
1-16 and operation of the improvements and facilities constituting the
1-17 ports and harbors of the city;
1-18 (2) to employ a general manager and other officers,
1-19 employees, and representatives as the board may consider
1-20 appropriate and to fix their duties and compensation;
1-21 (3) notwithstanding the provisions or restrictions of
1-22 any general or special law or Charter to the contrary, to prepare
1-23 and adopt budgets for the operation of the ports and harbors of the
1-24 city, fix charges for services and facilities, authorize
2-1 expenditures, and manage and control the income and revenue of the
2-2 city's ports and harbors;
2-3 (4) to determine policies and establish rules and
2-4 procedures for the operation of the ports and harbors of the city;
2-5 (5) to acquire property and interest in property for
2-6 the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act in the manner
2-7 provided by this Act and to construct improvements and facilities
2-8 on the property;
2-9 (6) to contract in its own name, but not in the name
2-10 of the city. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all such
2-11 contracts involving the expenditure of more than $15,000, except
2-12 contracts or expenditures exempt from competitive bidding under
2-13 Section 252.022, Local Government Code, or another applicable law,
2-14 shall be awarded only pursuant to competitive bids. Competitive
2-15 [However, competitive] bids are also not required for contracts for
2-16 personal or professional services, real estate transactions,
2-17 operation of port facilities or improvements under specific
2-18 agreements for a limited term, or insurance, or if the board of
2-19 trustees determines that the time delay posed by the competitive
2-20 bidding process would prevent or substantially impair the conduct
2-21 of port operation;
2-22 (7) to issue in the name of the board, with the
2-23 consent of the governing body of the city, revenue bonds or other
2-24 obligations payable from revenues in the manner set out in this Act
2-25 for the purpose of providing funds for any of the improvements and
2-26 facilities provided by Section 1 of this Act or to refund any
2-27 previously issued bonds or other obligations;
3-1 (8) to issue in the name of the board, with the
3-2 consent of the governing body of the city, current expense warrants
3-3 drawn against all or any part of the current revenues of the board
3-4 to pay current expenses during the current fiscal year of the board
3-5 or any part of the current fiscal year. However, in no event shall
3-6 the aggregate amount of the warrants that are outstanding at any
3-7 time during any fiscal year exceed 50 percent of the revenues
3-8 budgeted for that fiscal year after subtracting from the budgeted
3-9 revenues all principal and interest on bonds or obligations other
3-10 than current expense warrants to be paid from the revenues during
3-11 the fiscal year;
3-12 (9) to evidence contractual obligations to pay money
3-13 by issuing in the name of the board, with the consent of the
3-14 governing body of the city, certificates of participation in the
3-15 contractual obligations;
3-16 (10) to sue and be sued in its own name;
3-17 (11) to adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal; [and]
3-18 (12) to establish a port security force, to employ one
3-19 or more public security officers licensed by the Commission on Law
3-20 Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, and to commission one
3-21 or more employees of the force as peace officers if they are
3-22 certified as qualified to be peace officers by the Commission on
3-23 Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, which peace
3-24 officers commissioned under this Act are vested with all the
3-25 rights, privileges, obligations, and duties of any other peace
3-26 officer in this state; and
3-27 (13) to own, establish, construct, improve, equip,
4-1 maintain, operate, regulate, protect, or police any transportation
4-2 facility and any necessary appurtenances to the facility [while
4-3 they are on the property under the control of the board of
4-4 trustees, or in the actual course and scope of their employment].
4-5 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-11 passage, and it is so enacted.