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.

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