1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 1529
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1997; March 20, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 April 7, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 10,
1-5 Nays 0; April 7, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the provision of housing and utility services for
1-9 certain dwellings.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 1, Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th
1-12 Legislature, Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas
1-13 Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subdivision (3) to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 (3) "Housing for older persons" means housing:
1-16 (A) intended for and solely occupied by persons
1-17 62 years of age or older; or
1-18 (B) intended and operated for occupancy by at
1-19 least one person 55 years of age or older per dwelling unit. To
1-20 qualify as housing for older persons under this paragraph, the
1-21 housing must have at least the following:
1-22 (i) significant facilities and services
1-23 specifically designed to meet the physical or social needs of older
1-24 persons or, if the provision of such facilities and services is not
1-25 practicable, the housing must be necessary to provide important
1-26 housing opportunities for older persons;
1-27 (ii) at least 80 percent of dwelling units
1-28 set aside for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or
1-29 older per dwelling unit; and
1-30 (iii) policies and procedures, and
1-31 adherence thereto, which demonstrate an intent by the owner or
1-32 manager to provide housing for persons 55 years of age or older.
1-33 SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th
1-34 Legislature, Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas
1-35 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-36 Sec. 2. (a) No incorporated city or town, including a
1-37 home-rule city or other political subdivision of the state, may
1-38 issue a permit, certificate, or other authorization for the
1-39 construction or occupancy of a new apartment house or conversion to
1-40 a condominium unless the construction plan provides for individual
1-41 metering by the utility company or submetering by the owner of each
1-42 dwelling unit for the measurement of the quantity of electricity,
1-43 if any, consumed by the occupants within that dwelling unit.
1-44 (b) The provisions of Subsection (a) of this section shall
1-45 not apply to the issuance of a permit for the construction of
1-46 housing for older persons with 100 or more dwelling units or to the
1-47 issuance of a permit to a nonprofit organization for construction
1-48 of a new apartment house for occupancy by the low-income elderly
1-49 when the nonprofit organization establishes, by submission of
1-50 engineering and cost data and a sworn statement, that all cost
1-51 savings will be passed on to the low-income elderly tenants.
1-52 (c) An apartment house owner and a mobile home park owner
1-53 may provide for submetering of each dwelling unit for the
1-54 measurement of the quantity of electricity, if any, consumed by the
1-55 occupants within that dwelling unit.
1-56 (d) Before issuing a permit, certificate, or other
1-57 authorization for the construction of housing for older persons, an
1-58 incorporated city or town, including a home-rule city or other
1-59 political subdivision of the state, shall require that the
1-60 construction plan provide for the requirements for housing for
1-61 older persons as defined in Section 1 of this Act.
1-62 SECTION 3. Chapter 353, Acts of the 65th Legislature,
1-63 Regular Session, 1977 (Article 1446d, Vernon's Texas Civil
1-64 Statutes), is amended by adding a new Section 3 and renumbering the
2-1 existing Section 3 as Section 4 to read as follows:
2-2 Sec. 3. No apartment house owner or mobile home park owner
2-3 who provides housing for older persons pursuant to this Act may be
2-4 considered a wholesale utility customer.
2-5 Sec. 4 [3]. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the
2-6 Public Utility Commission of Texas shall promulgate rules,
2-7 regulations, and standards under which any owner, operator, or
2-8 manager of an apartment house or mobile home park which is not
2-9 individually metered for electricity for each dwelling unit may
2-10 install submetering equipment for each individual dwelling unit for
2-11 the purpose of fairly allocating the cost of each individual
2-12 dwelling unit's electrical consumption. In addition to other
2-13 appropriate safeguards for the tenant, such rules and regulations
2-14 shall require (a) that an apartment house owner or mobile home park
2-15 owner shall not impose on the tenant any extra charges, over and
2-16 above the cost per kilowatt hour which is charged by the utility to
2-17 the owner, and (b) that the apartment house owner shall maintain
2-18 adequate records regarding submetering and shall make such records
2-19 available for inspection by the tenant during reasonable business
2-20 hours. Any rule, regulation, or standard promulgated by the
2-21 commission pursuant to this section shall be deemed to have been
2-22 entered or adopted under the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article
2-23 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and for purposes of
2-24 enforcement, both utility companies and the owners, operators, or
2-25 managers of apartment houses included in this Act are subject to
2-26 enforcement pursuant to Sections 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77 of
2-27 the Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas
2-28 Civil Statutes). All electric submetering equipment shall be
2-29 subject to the same rules, regulations, and standards established
2-30 by the Public Utility Commission for accuracy, testing, and record
2-31 keeping of meters installed by electric utilities and shall be
2-32 subject to the meter testing requirements of Section 36 of the
2-33 Public Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-34 Statutes).
2-35 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-36 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-37 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-38 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-39 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-40 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-41 * * * * *