1-1 By: Eiland (Senate Sponsor - Patterson) H.B. No. 1692
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;
1-3 May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; May 15, 1997, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 15, 1997, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the operation of publicly owned and operated harbor and
1-10 port facilities located in certain municipalities.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 3(b), Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th
1-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas
1-14 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-15 (b) If the management and control of the improvements and
1-16 facilities is placed in the hands of a board of trustees by
1-17 ordinance or Charter under Subsection (a) of this section, the
1-18 board of trustees constitutes a body politic and corporate for the
1-19 purpose of issuing bonds or other obligations and other purposes
1-20 and shall have and exercise, in addition to the powers enumerated
1-21 in the ordinance or Charter, the following powers and authority:
1-22 (1) to exercise full management, control, maintenance,
1-23 and operation of the improvements and facilities constituting the
1-24 ports and harbors of the city;
1-25 (2) to employ a general manager and other officers,
1-26 employees, and representatives as the board may consider
1-27 appropriate and to fix their duties and compensation;
1-28 (3) notwithstanding the provisions or restrictions of
1-29 any general or special law or Charter to the contrary, to prepare
1-30 and adopt budgets for the operation of the ports and harbors of the
1-31 city, fix charges for services and facilities, authorize
1-32 expenditures, and manage and control the income and revenue of the
1-33 city's ports and harbors;
1-34 (4) to determine policies and establish rules and
1-35 procedures for the operation of the ports and harbors of the city;
1-36 (5) to acquire property and interest in property for
1-37 the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act in the manner
1-38 provided by this Act and to construct improvements and facilities
1-39 on the property;
1-40 (6) to contract in its own name, but not in the name
1-41 of the city. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all such
1-42 contracts involving the expenditure of more than $15,000, except
1-43 contracts or expenditures exempt from competitive bidding under
1-44 Section 252.022, Local Government Code, or another applicable law,
1-45 shall be awarded only pursuant to competitive bids. Competitive
1-46 [However, competitive] bids are also not required for contracts for
1-47 personal or professional services, real estate transactions,
1-48 operation of port facilities or improvements under specific
1-49 agreements for a limited term, or insurance, or if the board of
1-50 trustees determines that the time delay posed by the competitive
1-51 bidding process would prevent or substantially impair the conduct
1-52 of port operation;
1-53 (7) to issue in the name of the board, with the
1-54 consent of the governing body of the city, revenue bonds or other
1-55 obligations payable from revenues in the manner set out in this Act
1-56 for the purpose of providing funds for any of the improvements and
1-57 facilities provided by Section 1 of this Act or to refund any
1-58 previously issued bonds or other obligations;
1-59 (8) to issue in the name of the board, with the
1-60 consent of the governing body of the city, current expense warrants
1-61 drawn against all or any part of the current revenues of the board
1-62 to pay current expenses during the current fiscal year of the board
1-63 or any part of the current fiscal year. However, in no event shall
1-64 the aggregate amount of the warrants that are outstanding at any
2-1 time during any fiscal year exceed 50 percent of the revenues
2-2 budgeted for that fiscal year after subtracting from the budgeted
2-3 revenues all principal and interest on bonds or obligations other
2-4 than current expense warrants to be paid from the revenues during
2-5 the fiscal year;
2-6 (9) to evidence contractual obligations to pay money
2-7 by issuing in the name of the board, with the consent of the
2-8 governing body of the city, certificates of participation in the
2-9 contractual obligations;
2-10 (10) to sue and be sued in its own name;
2-11 (11) to adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal; [and]
2-12 (12) to establish a port security force, to employ one
2-13 or more public security officers licensed by the Commission on Law
2-14 Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, and to commission one
2-15 or more employees of the force as peace officers if they are
2-16 certified as qualified to be peace officers by the Commission on
2-17 Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, which peace
2-18 officers commissioned under this Act are vested with all the
2-19 rights, privileges, obligations, and duties of any other peace
2-20 officer in this state; and
2-21 (13) to own, establish, construct, improve, equip,
2-22 maintain, operate, regulate, protect, or police any transportation
2-23 facility and any necessary appurtenances to the facility [while
2-24 they are on the property under the control of the board of
2-25 trustees, or in the actual course and scope of their employment].
2-26 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-28 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-29 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-30 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-31 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-32 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-33 * * * * *