By Janek H.B. No. 2239
75R8463 T
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to utility services for certain dwellings.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Title 32, Chapter 10, Article 1446d, Sec. 1, is
1-5 amended by adding:
1-6 Sec. 1. In this Act:
1-7 (3) "Housing for older persons" means housing:
1-8 (A) intended for, and solely occupied by,
1-9 persons 62 years of age or older; or
1-10 (B) intended and operated for occupancy by at
1-11 least one person 55 years of age or older per dwelling unit. To
1-12 qualify as housing for older persons under this Act, the housing
1-13 must have at least the following:
1-14 (i) significant facilities and services
1-15 specifically designed to meet the physical or social needs of older
1-16 persons, or if the provision of such facilities and services is not
1-17 practicable, the housing must be necessary to provide important
1-18 housing opportunities for older persons; and
1-19 (ii) at least 80 percent of dwelling units
1-20 set aside for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or
1-21 older per dwelling unit; and
1-22 (iii) policies and procedures, and
1-23 adherence thereto, which demonstrate an intent by the owner or
1-24 manager to provide housing for persons 55 years of age or older.
2-1 SECTION 2. Title 32, Chapter 10, Article 1446d, Sec. 2, is
2-2 amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to
2-3 read as follows:
2-4 Sec. 2. (a) No incorporated city or town, including a
2-5 home-rule city or other political subdivision of the state, may
2-6 issue a permit, certificate, or other authorization for the
2-7 construction or occupancy of a new apartment house or conversion to
2-8 a condominium unless the construction plan provides for individual
2-9 metering by the utility company or submetering by the owner of each
2-10 dwelling unit for the measurement of the quantity of electricity,
2-11 if any, consumed by the occupants within that dwelling unit.
2-12 (b) The provisions of Subsection (a) of this section shall
2-13 not apply to the issuance of a permit for the construction of
2-14 housing for older persons with 100 or more dwelling units or to the
2-15 issuance of a permit to a nonprofit organization for construction
2-16 of a new apartment house for occupancy by the low-income elderly
2-17 when the nonprofit organization establishes, by submission of
2-18 engineering and cost data and a sworn statement, that all cost
2-19 savings will be passed on to the low-income elderly tenants.
2-20 (c) Before issuing a permit, certificate, or other
2-21 authorization for the construction of housing for older persons, an
2-22 incorporated city or town, including a home-rule city or other
2-23 political subdivision of the state, shall require that the
2-24 construction plan provides for the requirements for housing for
2-25 older persons as defined in Section 1 of this Act.
2-26 SECTION 3. Title 32, Chapter 10, Article 1446d, Sec. 3, is
2-27 amended by adding Section 3 and renumbering the subsequent section:
3-1 Sec. 3. No apartment house owner or mobile home park owner
3-2 who provides housing for older persons pursuant to this Act may be
3-3 considered a wholesale utility customer.
3-4 Sec. 4 [3]. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the
3-5 Public Utility Commission of Texas shall promulgate rules,
3-6 regulations, and standards under which any owner, operator, or
3-7 manager of an apartment house or mobile home park which is not
3-8 individually metered for electricity for each dwelling unit may
3-9 install submetering equipment for each individual dwelling unit for
3-10 the purpose of fairly allocating the cost of each individual
3-11 dwelling unit's electrical consumption. In addition to other
3-12 appropriate safeguards for the tenant, such rules and regulations
3-13 shall require (a) that an apartment house owner or mobile home park
3-14 owner shall not impose on the tenant any extra charges, over and
3-15 above the cost per kilowatt hour which is charged by the utility to
3-16 the owner, and (b) that the apartment house owner shall maintain
3-17 adequate records regarding submetering and shall make such records
3-18 available for inspection by the tenant during reasonable business
3-19 hours. Any rule, regulation, or standard promulgated by the
3-20 commission pursuant to this section shall be deemed to have been
3-21 entered or adopted under the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article
3-22 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and for purposes of
3-23 enforcement, both utility companies and the owners, operators, or
3-24 managers of apartment houses included in this Act are subject to
3-25 enforcement pursuant to Sections 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77 of
3-26 the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas
3-27 Civil Statutes). All electric submetering equipment shall be
4-1 subject to the same rules, regulations, and standards established
4-2 by the Public Utility Commission for accuracy, testing, and record
4-3 keeping of meters installed by electric utilities and shall be
4-4 subject to the meter testing requirements of Section 36 of the
4-5 Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil
4-6 Statutes).
4-7 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-8 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.