By: Brown S.B. No. 1529
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the provision of housing and utility services for
1-2 certain dwellings.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 1, Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas
1-6 Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subdivision (3) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (3) "Housing for older persons" means housing:
1-9 (A) intended for and solely occupied by persons
1-10 62 years of age or older; or
1-11 (B) intended and operated for occupancy by at
1-12 least one person 55 years of age or older per dwelling unit. To
1-13 qualify as housing for older persons under this paragraph, the
1-14 housing must have at least the following:
1-15 (i) significant facilities and services
1-16 specifically designed to meet the physical or social needs of older
1-17 persons or, if the provision of such facilities and services is not
1-18 practicable, the housing must be necessary to provide important
1-19 housing opportunities for older persons;
1-20 (ii) at least 80 percent of dwelling units
1-21 set aside for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or
1-22 older per dwelling unit; and
1-23 (iii) policies and procedures, and
2-1 adherence thereto, which demonstrate an intent by the owner or
2-2 manager to provide housing for persons 55 years of age or older.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th
2-4 Legislature, Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas
2-5 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-6 Sec. 2. (a) No incorporated city or town, including a
2-7 home-rule city or other political subdivision of the state, may
2-8 issue a permit, certificate, or other authorization for the
2-9 construction or occupancy of a new apartment house or conversion to
2-10 a condominium unless the construction plan provides for individual
2-11 metering by the utility company or submetering by the owner of each
2-12 dwelling unit for the measurement of the quantity of electricity,
2-13 if any, consumed by the occupants within that dwelling unit.
2-14 (b) The provisions of Subsection (a) of this section shall
2-15 not apply to the issuance of a permit for the construction of
2-16 housing for older persons with 100 or more dwelling units or to the
2-17 issuance of a permit to a nonprofit organization for construction
2-18 of a new apartment house for occupancy by the low-income elderly
2-19 when the nonprofit organization establishes, by submission of
2-20 engineering and cost data and a sworn statement, that all cost
2-21 savings will be passed on to the low-income elderly tenants.
2-22 (c) An apartment house owner and a mobile home park owner
2-23 may provide for submetering of each dwelling unit for the
2-24 measurement of the quantity of electricity, if any, consumed by the
2-25 occupants within that dwelling unit.
3-1 (d) Before issuing a permit, certificate, or other
3-2 authorization for the construction of housing for older persons, an
3-3 incorporated city or town, including a home-rule city or other
3-4 political subdivision of the state, shall require that the
3-5 construction plan provide for the requirements for housing for
3-6 older persons as defined in Section 1 of this Act.
3-7 SECTION 3. Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th Legislature,
3-8 Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-9 Statutes), is amended by adding a new Section 3 and renumbering the
3-10 existing Section 3 as Section 4 to read as follows:
3-11 Sec. 3. No apartment house owner or mobile home park owner
3-12 who provides housing for older persons pursuant to this Act may be
3-13 considered a wholesale utility customer.
3-14 Sec. 4 [3]. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the
3-15 Public Utility Commission of Texas shall promulgate rules,
3-16 regulations, and standards under which any owner, operator, or
3-17 manager of an apartment house or mobile home park which is not
3-18 individually metered for electricity for each dwelling unit may
3-19 install submetering equipment for each individual dwelling unit for
3-20 the purpose of fairly allocating the cost of each individual
3-21 dwelling unit's electrical consumption. In addition to other
3-22 appropriate safeguards for the tenant, such rules and regulations
3-23 shall require (a) that an apartment house owner or mobile home park
3-24 owner shall not impose on the tenant any extra charges, over and
3-25 above the cost per kilowatt hour which is charged by the utility to
4-1 the owner, and (b) that the apartment house owner shall maintain
4-2 adequate records regarding submetering and shall make such records
4-3 available for inspection by the tenant during reasonable business
4-4 hours. Any rule, regulation, or standard promulgated by the
4-5 commission pursuant to this section shall be deemed to have been
4-6 entered or adopted under the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article
4-7 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and for purposes of
4-8 enforcement, both utility companies and the owners, operators, or
4-9 managers of apartment houses included in this Act are subject to
4-10 enforcement pursuant to Sections 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77 of
4-11 the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas
4-12 Civil Statutes). All electric submetering equipment shall be
4-13 subject to the same rules, regulations, and standards established
4-14 by the Public Utility Commission for accuracy, testing, and record
4-15 keeping of meters installed by electric utilities and shall be
4-16 subject to the meter testing requirements of Section 36 of the
4-17 Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil
4-18 Statutes).
4-19 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-20 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.