By Raymond H.B. No. 3567
75R5947 MI-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the addition of territory to, the board of directors
1-3 of, and disannexation procedures for the Duval County Conservation
1-4 and Reclamation District.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 1, Chapter 398, Acts of the 51st
1-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1949, is amended to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 1. Under and pursuant to the provisions of Article 16,
1-9 Section 59, of the Constitution of Texas, there is hereby created
1-10 within the State of Texas, in addition to the districts into which
1-11 the state has heretofore been divided, a conservation and
1-12 reclamation district to be known as the Duval County Conservation
1-13 and Reclamation District, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the
1-14 "District," and consisting of that part of the State of Texas which
1-15 is included within the boundaries of Duval County, exclusive of
1-16 that part of Duval County comprising the Freer Water Control and
1-17 Improvement District, of Duval County, and including that part of
1-18 Jim Wells County within the corporate limits of the City of San
1-19 Diego, Texas.
1-20 SECTION 2. Section 3, Chapter 398, Acts of the 51st
1-21 Legislature, Regular Session, 1949, is amended to read as follows:
1-22 Sec. 3. The management and control of the District is hereby
1-23 vested in a board of directors which shall have all of the powers
1-24 and authority conferred and imposed upon boards of directors of
2-1 Water Control and Improvement Districts organized under the
2-2 provisions of Chapter 25, Acts of the 39th Legislature passed in
2-3 1925, and amendments thereto, as incorporated in Title 128, Chapter
2-4 3A, of Vernon's Civil Statutes of the State of Texas and amendments
2-5 thereto. The board of directors shall be composed of six [four
2-6 (4)] members elected at large who shall have the same
2-7 qualifications as directors of Water Control and Improvement
2-8 Districts. Three directors must be residents of the City of San
2-9 Diego, two directors must be residents of the City of Benavides,
2-10 and one director must be a resident of that part of Duval County
2-11 that is not within the corporate limits of either San Diego or
2-12 Benavides. The presiding officer of the board votes only to break
2-13 a tie. In the event and to the extent that any of the provisions
2-14 of the General Laws referred to in this Section are in conflict
2-15 with or inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act
2-16 relating to the powers, authority, and duties of the board of
2-17 directors and its members, the provisions of this Act shall
2-18 prevail. An [The Commissioners Court of Duval County is hereby
2-19 authorized and empowered to appoint four (4) persons qualified
2-20 under the law to serve as directors of the District until their
2-21 successors shall have been duly elected and shall have qualified.
2-22 The four (4) directors thus appointed shall serve for a term of two
2-23 (2) years beginning June 1, 1963. The first election of directors
2-24 shall be held on the first Tuesday in May, 1965, and said election
2-25 shall be ordered and conducted in the same manner as the election
2-26 for directors of Water Control and Improvement Districts. The
2-27 directors so elected shall qualify and begin their term of office
3-1 on June 1, 1965, or as soon thereafter as practical. The persons
3-2 elected directors at said election shall draw lots so that two (2)
3-3 directors shall serve for a term of one (1) year and two (2)
3-4 directors shall serve for a term of two (2) years. Thereafter an]
3-5 election shall be held on the first Tuesday in May of each year and
3-6 the directors elected [after the first election] shall each serve
3-7 for a term of four [two (2)] years. If either San Diego or
3-8 Benavides disannexes as provided by Section 4A of this Act, a
3-9 person on the board who represents the disannexed municipality
3-10 ceases to be a director on the date disannexation takes effect, and
3-11 the remaining directors as soon as possible shall call a special
3-12 election to elect an additional director from that part of Duval
3-13 County that is not within the corporate limits of either San Diego
3-14 or Benavides and the appropriate number of directors from the
3-15 remaining municipality to fill the unexpired terms.
3-16 SECTION 3. Chapter 398, Acts of the 51st Legislature,
3-17 Regular Session, 1949, is amended by adding Section 4A to read as
3-18 follows:
3-19 Sec. 4A. (a) A municipality within the District may be
3-20 disannexed from the District on petition for an election on
3-21 disannexation and a majority vote in favor of disannexation at the
3-22 election called for that purpose. A petition for an election to
3-23 disannex must be signed by at least 250 qualified voters of the
3-24 municipality or a number of qualified voters equal to five percent
3-25 of the total vote cast in the municipality in the most recent
3-26 District election, whichever number is less. The petition must
3-27 state that its purpose is to call an election to determine whether
4-1 the affected municipality should be disannexed from the District.
4-2 The petition must include each petitioner's signature, printed
4-3 name, address, voting precinct, and voter certificate number and
4-4 the date on which the petitioner signed.
4-5 (b) A petition must be filed with the District manager. Not
4-6 later than the 30th day after the date on which the petition is
4-7 filed, the District manager shall verify the validity of the
4-8 petition and determine whether the number of signatures required
4-9 for the calling of an election have been included. If the District
4-10 manager certifies the number of signatures required for the calling
4-11 of an election, the board of directors of the District shall call
4-12 an election for the purpose of disannexation not later than the
4-13 90th day after the date on which the manager certifies the
4-14 sufficiency of the petition.
4-15 (c) The disannexation measure shall appear on the ballot in
4-16 a manner that provides for voting for one of the three following
4-17 propositions:
4-18 (1) "The City of (name of municipality) shall not be
4-19 disannexed from the jurisdiction of the Duval County Conservation
4-20 and Reclamation District";
4-21 (2) "The City of (name of municipality) shall be
4-22 disannexed from the Duval County Conservation and Reclamation
4-23 District and on disannexation the governing body of the
4-24 municipality shall establish or acquire systems to provide the
4-25 water and sewer services formerly provided by the District in the
4-26 disannexed area"; or
4-27 (3) "The City of (name of municipality) shall be
5-1 disannexed from the Duval County Conservation and Reclamation
5-2 District and on disannexation the governing body of the
5-3 municipality shall initiate a petition for, and shall consent to,
5-4 as provided by Sections 54.014 and 54.016, Water Code, the creation
5-5 of a municipal utility district to provide the water and sewer
5-6 services formerly provided by the District in the disannexed area."
5-7 (d) If a majority of the total votes in the election is in
5-8 favor of proposition (1), the municipality is not disannexed. If
5-9 the total vote in favor of propositions (2) and (3) is a majority
5-10 of the votes cast in the election, the majority of the vote in the
5-11 election is for disannexation. As between propositions (2) and
5-12 (3), the proposition that receives the larger number of votes
5-13 prevails. If disannexation fails, an election under this section
5-14 to disannex the same municipality may not be held for one year.
5-15 (e) If a majority of the vote in the election is for
5-16 disannexation, the directors of the District shall vote to disannex
5-17 at the same board meeting at which the directors canvass the
5-18 election results. Not later than the 30th day after the canvass of
5-19 the election results and the District's disannexation vote, the
5-20 executive director of the Texas Water Development Board shall
5-21 appoint an independent master to oversee the distribution of assets
5-22 consistent with disannexation. All infrastructure and real
5-23 property, including water and sewer lines, storage tanks, treatment
5-24 plants, towers, buildings, land, and other facilities within the
5-25 corporate limits of the disannexed municipality that are related to
5-26 the provision of water and sewer services by the District within
5-27 the disannexed municipality shall revert to the disannexed
6-1 municipality. All receivables from connections within the
6-2 corporate limits of the disannexed municipality transfer to the
6-3 municipality. Other assets, including vehicles, computers, office
6-4 furniture and equipment, and cash, shall be divided between the
6-5 District and the municipality by the master in proportion to the
6-6 number of water connections within the boundaries of each entity.
6-7 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-8 (b) Directors serving on August 31, 1997, serve until their
6-9 successors are elected and have qualified under this section. The
6-10 additional positions on the District board created by Section 3,
6-11 Chapter 398, Acts of the 51st Legislature, Regular Session, 1949,
6-12 as amended by this Act, shall be filled at the election to be held
6-13 in May 1998, and until that time the District is governed by a
6-14 board of four directors.
6-15 (c) The two directors elected at the May 1994 election and
6-16 the two directors elected at the May 1995 election serve until the
6-17 May 1998 election as provided by Section 50(b), Chapter 715, Acts
6-18 of the 74th Legislature, 1995. At the May 1998 election, six
6-19 directors shall be elected. If, before the May 1998 election, the
6-20 City of San Diego or the City of Benavides disannexes as provided
6-21 by Section 4A, Chapter 398, Acts of the 51st Legislature, Regular
6-22 Session, 1949, as added by this Act, two directors elected at that
6-23 election must be residents of that part of Duval County not within
6-24 the corporate limits of either municipality and four directors
6-25 elected must be residents of the remaining municipality. Those
6-26 directors shall draw lots to determine which three directors serve
6-27 two-year terms and which three directors serve four-year terms.
7-1 Successor directors serve four-year terms.
7-2 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
7-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.