1-1     By:  Clark (Senate Sponsor - Ogden)                   H.B. No. 1362
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House March 29, 1999;
 1-3     March 30, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; April 29, 1999, reported adversely,
 1-5     with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 4,
 1-6     Nays 0; April 29, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1362                   By:  Nixon
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the selection of appraisers for the determination of
1-11     compensation paid to certain retail public utilities.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 13.255, Water Code, is amended by
1-14     amending Subsection (l) to read as follows:
1-15           (l)  The compensation provided under Subsection (g) shall be
1-16     determined by a qualified individual or firm, to which the
1-17     municipality and the retail public utility agree, to serve as
1-18     independent appraiser[, who shall be selected by the affected
1-19     retail public utility].  If the retail public utility and the
1-20     municipality  are unable to agree on a single individual or firm to
1-21     serve as the independent appraiser before the 11th day after the
1-22     date the retail public utility or municipality notifies the other
1-23     party of the impasse, the retail public utility and municipality
1-24     each shall appoint a qualified individual or firm to serve as
1-25     independent appraiser.  On or before the 10th business day after
1-26     the date of their appointment, the independent appraisers shall
1-27     meet to reach an agreed determination of the amount of
1-28     compensation.  If the appraisers are unable to agree on a
1-29     determination before the 16th business day after the date of their
1-30     first meeting under this subsection, the retail public utility or
1-31     municipality may petition the commission or a person the commission
1-32     designates for the purpose to appoint a third qualified independent
1-33     appraiser to reconcile the appraisals of the two originally
1-34     appointed appraisers.  The determination of the third appraiser may
1-35     not be less than the lesser or more than the greater of the two
1-36     original appraisals.  The determination of compensation under this
1-37     subsection is [by the independent appraiser shall be] binding on
1-38     the commission.  The costs of the independent appraisers under this
1-39     subsection shall be shared equally by the retail public utility and
1-40     [appraiser shall be borne by] the municipality.
1-41           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
1-42     an application filed with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
1-43     Commission to grant single certification to a municipality under
1-44     Section 13.255(b), Water Code, that is filed on or after September
1-45     1, 1999.  An application to grant single certification filed with
1-46     the commission under that section before September 1, 1999, is
1-47     governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
1-48     of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-49     purpose.
1-50           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-51           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-52     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56                                  * * * * *