75R13608 E
By Wentworth S.B. No. 1558
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1558:
By Turner of Coleman C.S.S.B. No. 1558
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to establishing the boundaries of and adding land to
1-3 defined areas within certain water control and improvement
1-4 districts.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter L, Chapter 51, Water Code, is amended
1-7 by adding Section 51.5301 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 51.5301. ADDING LAND TO DEFINED AREA BY PETITION OF
1-9 LANDOWNER. (a) The owner of land subject to a water quality plan
1-10 approved by the commission may file with the board a petition
1-11 requesting that the land described by metes and bounds in the
1-12 petition, whether contiguous or not to the defined area, be
1-13 included within a defined area previously established under Section
1-14 51.518.
1-15 (b) If the defined area has bonds, notes, or other
1-16 obligations outstanding or bonds payable in whole or in part from
1-17 taxes that have been voted but are unissued for the defined area,
1-18 the board may require the petitioner or petitioners to assume their
1-19 share of the outstanding bonds, notes, or other obligations and the
1-20 voted but unissued tax bonds of the defined area and to authorize
1-21 the board to levy a tax on their property in each year in which any
1-22 of the bonds, notes, or other obligations payable in whole or in
1-23 part from taxation on the defined area are outstanding to pay their
1-24 share of the indebtedness.
2-1 (c) A petition of the landowner to add land to the defined
2-2 area shall be signed and executed in the manner provided by law for
2-3 the conveyance of real estate.
2-4 (d) The board shall hear and consider the petition and may
2-5 add to the defined area the land described in the petition if it is
2-6 feasible, practicable, and to the advantage of the defined area and
2-7 if the defined area's system and other improvements of the defined
2-8 area are sufficient or will be sufficient to supply the added land
2-9 without injuring land already in the defined area.
2-10 (e) If the defined area has bonds payable in whole or in
2-11 part from taxation of a defined area that are voted but unissued at
2-12 the time of annexation and the petitioners assume the bonds and
2-13 authorize the district to levy a tax on their property to pay the
2-14 bonds of the defined area, the board may issue the voted but
2-15 unissued bonds even though the boundaries of the defined area have
2-16 been altered since the authorization of the bonds.
2-17 (f) The granted petition shall be filed for record and shall
2-18 be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county or
2-19 counties in which the added land is located.
2-20 SECTION 2. (a) With respect to a water control and
2-21 improvement district that operates as a municipal utility district
2-22 under Chapter 54, Water Code, in a county with a population of more
2-23 than 1.8 million, which has boundaries that extend to the corporate
2-24 limits of three or more municipalities and is the holder of a
2-25 certificate of convenience and necessity for water services, the
2-26 legislature finds that the boundaries of such district shall be the
2-27 same as the boundaries of the district's certificate of convenience
3-1 and necessity as of the effective date of this Act. The metes and
3-2 bounds description provided by the district to the commission after
3-3 the effective date of this Act constitutes the legal metes and
3-4 bounds description of the district's territory.
3-5 (b) An exclusion of land under this section does not affect,
3-6 diminish, or impair the rights of the holders of any outstanding
3-7 and unpaid bonds, warrants, or other obligations of a district or
3-8 the obligation of the board annually to adjust the district's rates
3-9 to provide sufficient revenues for debt service.
3-10 (c) Any land excluded under this section is not released
3-11 from the payment of its pro rata share of the district's
3-12 indebtedness.
3-13 (d) A district shall continue to provide the same level of
3-14 service to any existing customers that might have been excluded as
3-15 a result of this section and at rates equivalent to rates charged
3-16 to customers within its boundaries.
3-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.