By Shapiro                                       S.B. No. 963

      75R7937 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the testing of natural gas piping systems in school

 1-3     district facilities.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Title 102, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding

 1-6     Article 6053-2a to read as follows:

 1-7           Art. 6053-2a.  TESTING OF NATURAL GAS PIPING SYSTEMS IN

 1-8     SCHOOL DISTRICT FACILITIES

 1-9           Sec. 1.   (a)  Before the beginning of each school year, each

1-10     school district shall pressure test the natural gas piping system

1-11     in each school district facility.

1-12           (b)  The pressure test shall determine whether the natural

1-13     gas piping downstream of the school district's meter holds at least

1-14     normal operating pressure over a specified period determined by the

1-15     Railroad Commission of Texas.

1-16           (c)  During the pressure test, each system supply inlet and

1-17     outlet in the facility must be closed.

1-18           (d)  At the request of a school district, the Railroad

1-19     Commission of Texas shall assist the district in developing a

1-20     procedure for conducting the test.

1-21           Sec. 2.   (a)  Each school district shall provide written

1-22     notice to the natural gas supplier specifying the date and result

1-23     of each pressure test.

1-24           (b)  The natural gas supplier shall maintain a copy of the

 2-1     notice  until at least the first anniversary of the date on which

 2-2     the supplier received the notice.

 2-3           (c)  The supplier shall terminate service to a school

 2-4     district facility if:

 2-5                 (1)  the supplier receives notice of a hazardous

 2-6     natural gas leakage in the facility piping system; or

 2-7                 (2)  the district fails to perform a test at the

 2-8     facility as required by this article.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding Article 6053-2a, Revised

2-10     Statutes, as added by this Act, if a school district is not able,

2-11     before the  beginning of the 1997-1998 school year, to pressure

2-12     test the natural gas piping system as required by that article, the

2-13     district shall perform the test as soon as practicable thereafter.

2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.