Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Gallego H.B. No. 3386
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the purposes of rural electric cooperatives serving
1-3 border counties.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3 of Article 1528b, Texas Revised Civil
1-6 Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 3. (a) Co-operative non-profit membership corporation,
1-8 heretofore or hereafter organized under this Act are authorized to
1-9 engage in rural electrification by on or more of the following
1-10 methods:
1-11 (1) The furnishing of electric energy to any person,
1-12 for delivery to any dwelling, structure, apparatus or pint of
1-13 delivery which is located in a rural are, and which is not
1-14 receiving central station service, notwithstanding the fact that
1-15 such person may be receiving central station service at other
1-16 points of delivery in a rural or nonrural area..
1-17 (2) If any area in which such corporation is
1-18 furnishing electric service to its members is annexed by an
1-19 incorporated city or town (whether rural or nonrural as defined in
1-20 this Act) in which central station service is supplied by such city
1-21 or town or by a public utility corporation, the co-operative
1-22 corporation is authorized to continue to furnish electric energy to
1-23 any dwelling, structure, apparatus or point of delivery to which
1-24 the co-operative corporation was delivering electric energy on the
2-1 date the area became annexed and to which central station service
2-2 is not available from the city or town or a public utility
2-3 corporation, the co-operative corporation may thereafter furnish
2-4 electric energy to such dwelling, structure, apparatus or point of
2-5 delivery.
2-6 (3) The furnishing of electric energy to persons
2-7 desiring such service in any incorporated or unincorporated city or
2-8 town (rural or nonrural) served by such corporation, and in which
2-9 no central station service was available at the time such
2-10 corporation began furnishing electric energy to the citizens
2-11 thereof.
2-12 (4) The furnishing of electric energy to persons in
2-13 rural areas who are not receiving central station service.
2-14 (5) The words "central station service" as used in the
2-15 Act refer to electric service provided by a municipally owned
2-16 electric system or by a public utility corporation, as described in
2-17 Article 1435, Vernon's Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.
2-18 (6) Assisting in the wiring of the premises of persons
2-19 in rural areas or the acquisition, supply or installation of
2-20 electrical or plumbing equipment.
2-21 (7) The furnishing of electric energy, wiring
2-22 facilities, electrical or plumbing equipment or service to any
2-23 other corporation organized under this Act or to the members
2-24 thereof.
2-25 (b) Co-operative, non-profit, membership corporations
2-26 heretofore or hereafter organized under this Act which serve retail
2-27 customers in any county that is contiguous to an international
2-28 border, in addition to the purposes set out in subsection (s) of
2-29 this section, are authorized to engage, directly or through an
2-30 affiliate, in the following services to any rural area:
3-1 (1) Supplying or furnishing rural community utility
3-2 and utility-related services other than electricity, including but
3-3 not limited to water and sewer services, Internet services, and
3-4 telephone answering services;
3-5 (2) Providing management or operating service to or
3-6 for any other cooperative or other entity engaged in purposes
3-7 authorized by this section; and/or
3-8 (3) Promoting economic and industrial development
3-9 through participation both as a borrower and a lender in various
3-10 programs established by the Rural Utilities Services Administration
3-11 or other federal programs.
3-12 SECTION 2. Section 4 of Article 1528b is amended to read as
3-13 follows:
3-14 Sec. 4. (a) Each corporation shall have power:
3-15 (1) To sue and be sued, complain and defend, in its
3-16 corporation name;
3-17 (2) To have a perpetual succession unless a limited
3-18 period of duration is stated in its articles of incorporation;
3-19 (3) To adopt a corporate seal which may be altered at
3-20 pleasure, and to use it, or a facsimile thereof, as required by
3-21 law;
3-22 (4) To generate, manufacture, purchase, acquire, and
3-23 accumulate electric energy and to transmit, distribute, sell,
3-24 furnish, and dispose of such electric energy to its members only,
3-25 and to construct, erect, purchase, lease as lessee and in any
3-26 manner acquire, own, hold, maintain, operate, sell, dispose of,
3-27 lease as lessor, exchange, and mortgage plants, buildings, works,
3-28 machinery, supplies, equipment, apparatus, and transmission and
3-29 distribution lines of systems necessary, convenient, or useful;
3-30 (5) To assist its members only to wire their premises
4-1 and install therein electrical and plumbing fixtures, machinery,
4-2 supplies, apparatus, and equipment of any and all kinds and
4-3 character, and in connection therewith and for such purposes, to
4-4 purchase, acquire, lease, sell, distribute, install, and repair
4-5 electrical and plumbing fixtures, machinery, supplies, apparatus,
4-6 and equipment of any and all kinds and character and to receive,
4-7 acquire, endorse, pledge, hypothecate, and dispose of notes, bonds,
4-8 and other evidences of indebtedness;
4-9 (6) To furnish to other corporations organized under
4-10 this Act, or to the members thereof, electric energy, wiring
4-11 facilities, electrical and plumbing equipment, and services
4-12 convenient or useful;
4-13 (7) To acquire, own, hold, use, exercise, and, to the
4-14 extent permitted by law, to sell, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate,
4-15 and in any manner dispose of franchises, rights, privileges,
4-16 licenses, rights of way, and easements necessary, useful, or
4-17 appropriate;
4-18 (8) To purchase, receive, lease as lessee, or in any
4-19 other manner acquire, own, hold, maintain, sell, exchange, and use
4-20 any and all real and personal property or any interest therein;
4-21 (9) To borrow money and otherwise contract
4-22 indebtedness, to issue its obligations therefor, and to secure the
4-23 payment thereof by mortgage, pledge, or deed of trust of all or any
4-24 of its property, assets, franchises, revenues, or income;
4-25 (10) To sell and convey, mortgage, pledge, lease as
4-26 lessor, and otherwise dispose of all or any part of its property
4-27 and assets;
4-28 (11) To have and exercise the power of eminent domain
4-29 for the purpose and in the manner provided by the condemnation laws
4-30 of this State for acquiring private property for public use, such
5-1 right to be paramount except as to property of the State, or of any
5-2 political subdivision thereof;
5-3 (12) To accept gifts or grants of money, services, or
5-4 property, real or personal;
5-5 (13) To make any and all contracts necessary or
5-6 convenient for the exercise of the powers granted in this Act;
5-7 (14) To fix, regulate, and collect rates, fees, rents,
5-8 or other charges for electric energy and any other facilities,
5-9 supplies, equipment, or services furnished by the corporation;
5-10 (15) To conduct its business, and have offices within
5-11 or without this State;
5-12 (16) To elect or appoint officers, agents, and
5-13 employees of the corporation, and to define their duties and fix
5-14 their compensation;
5-15 (17) To make and alter by-laws, not inconsistent with
5-16 the articles of incorporation or with the laws of this State for
5-17 the administration and regulation of the affairs of the
5-18 corporation;
5-19 (18) To do and perform, either for itself or its
5-20 members, or for any other corporation organized under this Act, or
5-21 for the members thereof, any and all acts and things, and to have
5-22 and exercise any and all powers as may be necessary, convenient, or
5-23 appropriate to effectuate the purpose for which the corporation is
5-24 organized.
5-25 (b) Each corporation referred to in Section 3(b), in
5-26 addition to the powers set out in Subsection (a) of this section,
5-27 shall have all of power, including but not limited to the borrowing
5-28 of funds, necessary or appurtenant to the purposes authorized under
5-29 Section 3(b).
5-30 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.