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