By Ogden                                              S.B. No. 1178
         76R4764 WP-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the powers of the Lower Colorado River Authority to
 1-3     provide water services in Williamson County.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 27, Chapter 7, Acts of the 43rd
 1-6     Legislature, 4th Called Session, 1934 (Article 8280-107, Vernon's
 1-7     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 27.   (a)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this
 1-9     Act, the district:
1-10                 (1)  may purchase, construct, acquire, own, operate,
1-11     repair, improve, or extend any facility necessary or convenient to
1-12     provide water services in Williamson County in cooperation with
1-13     another special district, a municipality, or another governmental
1-14     entity;[.]
1-15                 (2) [(b)  The district] may not provide water services
1-16     in the watershed of the Brazos River unless the district obtains in
1-17     writing the consent of the Brazos River Authority before the
1-18     services are provided; and[.]
1-19                 (3) [(c)  The district] may transfer surface water from
1-20     the district to a place in Williamson County that is outside the
1-21     watershed of the Colorado River only if the transfer is made to:
1-22                       (A)  a municipality that was [is:]
1-23                 [(1)]  a district water customer on May 20, 1997, [the
1-24     effective date of this section;] and
 2-1                 [(2)]  located in the watersheds of both the Colorado
 2-2     River and the Brazos River; or
 2-3                       (B)  a person or entity that pays for the surface
 2-4     water in an amount sufficient to pay both the district's cost of
 2-5     service and an additional charge to mitigate any adverse effects of
 2-6     the transfer of surface water to Williamson County from the
 2-7     Colorado River watershed, as determined by the district's board of
 2-8     directors.
 2-9           (b)  The district shall determine the amount of the
2-10     additional charge under Subsection (a)(3)(B) of this section.  The
2-11     district may use money from the additional charge only for the
2-12     development of water resources or other water use strategies to
2-13     replace or offset the amount of surface water transferred to
2-14     Williamson County.  The board of directors' determination of the
2-15     additional charge is not subject to review or modification by any
2-16     regulatory agency or authority.  Water resources developed or
2-17     conserved through the additional charge may be acquired from any
2-18     source, in or outside the boundaries of the district, and shall be
2-19     used to benefit the water service area of the district described in
2-20     Sections 2(a) and 26 of this Act.
2-21           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27     passage, and it is so enacted.