By Lewis of Orange                                    H.B. No. 1755
         76R5324 CAG-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the requirements for the creation of a political
 1-3     subdivision to supply water or sewer services, roadways, or
 1-4     drainage facilities in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a
 1-5     municipality.
 1-6           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-7           SECTION 1.  Section 42.042(j), Local Government Code, is
 1-8     amended to read as follows:
 1-9           (j)  The consent requirements of this section do not apply to
1-10     the creation of a special utility district under Chapter 65, Water
1-11     Code, or the creation of a political subdivision by an act of the
1-12     legislature.  If a special utility district is to be converted to a
1-13     district with taxing authority that provides utility services, this
1-14     section applies to the conversion.
1-15           SECTION 2.  Any governmental act or proceeding related to the
1-16     adoption of an act of the legislature creating a special district
1-17     under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, since the
1-18     adoption of Subsection (e) of that section is validated as of the
1-19     date on which it occurred.
1-20           SECTION 3.  (a)  The purpose of this Act is to clarify and
1-21     confirm that the general law of the state since the adoption of
1-22     Section 59(e), Article XVI, Texas Constitution, has been not to
1-23     require the consent of any municipality for the legislative
1-24     adoption of an act creating a district under Section 59, Article
 2-1     XVI, Texas Constitution, and that this interpretation is adopted
 2-2     and declared to have been the interpretation of the general law of
 2-3     the state since the adoption of Subsection (e) of that section.
 2-4           (b)  This Act does not nullify or amend any other act of the
 2-5     legislature or any order of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
 2-6     Commission relating to any district created under Section 59,
 2-7     Article XVI, Texas Constitution, since the adoption of Subsection
 2-8     (e) of that section.
 2-9           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-10           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.