By Lewis of Orange H.B. No. 846
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the administration, management, operation, and
1-3 authority of water districts and authorities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 36.068, Water Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-7 (d) The board may establish a sick leave pool for employees
1-8 of the district in the same manner as that authorized for the
1-9 creation of a sick leave pool for state employees by Subchapter A,
1-10 Chapter 661, Government Code.
1-11 SECTION 2. Section 49.001(a)(1), Water Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (1) "District" means any district or authority created
1-14 by authority of either Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article III, or
1-15 Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, regardless of how
1-16 created. The term "district" shall not include any navigation
1-17 district or port authority created under general or special law,
1-18 [or] any conservation and reclamation district created pursuant to
1-19 Chapter 62, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, 1951 (Article 8280-141,
1-20 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any conservation and reclamation
1-21 district governed by Chapter 36 unless a special law creating the
1-22 district or amending the law creating the district states that this
1-23 chapter applies to that district.
1-24 SECTION 3. Section 49.002, Water Code, is amended to read as
2-1 follows:
2-2 Sec. 49.002. APPLICABILITY. (a) Except as provided by
2-3 Subsection (b), this [This] chapter applies to all general and
2-4 special law districts to the extent that the provisions of this
2-5 chapter do not directly conflict with a provision in any other
2-6 chapter of this code or any Act creating or affecting a special law
2-7 district. In the event of such conflict, the specific provisions
2-8 in such other chapter or Act shall control.
2-9 (b) This chapter does not apply to a district governed by
2-10 Chapter 36 unless a special law creating the district or amending
2-11 the law creating the district states that this chapter applies to
2-12 that district.
2-13 SECTION 4. Section 49.069, Water Code, is amended by adding
2-14 Subsection (d) to read as follows:
2-15 (d) The board may establish a sick leave pool for employees
2-16 of the district in the same manner as that authorized for the
2-17 creation of a sick leave pool for state employees by Subchapter A,
2-18 Chapter 661, Government Code.
2-19 SECTION 5. Section 661.001(4), Government Code, is amended
2-20 to read as follows:
2-21 (4) "State agency" means:
2-22 (A) a board, commission, department, or other
2-23 agency in the executive branch of state government created by the
2-24 constitution or a statute of the state;
2-25 (B) an institution of higher education as
2-26 defined by Section 61.003, Education Code;
2-27 (C) [a river authority;]
3-1 [(D)] a legislative agency, but not either house
3-2 or a member of the legislature; or
3-3 (D) [(E)] the supreme court, the court of
3-4 criminal appeals, a court of appeals, or a state judicial agency.
3-5 SECTION 6. Section 49.066(a), Water Code, is amended to read
3-6 as follows:
3-7 (a) A district may sue and be sued on written contracts of
3-8 the district in the courts of this state in the name of the
3-9 district by and through its board. All courts shall take judicial
3-10 notice of the creation of the district and of its boundaries.
3-11 SECTION 7. Section 49.072, Water Code, is repealed.
3-12 SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-13 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.