1-1 By: Walker (Senate Sponsor - Brown) H.B. No. 924
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 21, 2001;
1-3 March 22, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Natural Resources; April 17, 2001, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 17, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the authority of a water district or water supply
1-9 corporation to require the grant of an easement as a precondition
1-10 of service.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 49.218, Water Code, is amended by adding
1-13 new Subsections (d), (e), and (f) and relettering existing
1-14 Subsection (d) as Subsection (g) to read as follows:
1-15 (d) A district or water supply corporation may require, as a
1-16 condition for service, that an applicant for service grant to the
1-17 district or water supply corporation a permanent recorded easement
1-18 that:
1-19 (1) is dedicated to the district or water supply
1-20 corporation; and
1-21 (2) will provide a reasonable right of access and use
1-22 to allow the district or water supply corporation to construct,
1-23 install, maintain, replace, upgrade, inspect, or test any facility
1-24 necessary to serve that applicant as well as the district's or
1-25 water supply corporation's purposes in providing system-wide
1-26 service.
1-27 (e) A district or water supply corporation may not, under
1-28 Subsection (d), require an applicant to provide an easement for a
1-29 service line for the sole benefit of another applicant.
1-30 (f) As a condition of service to a new subdivision, a
1-31 district or water supply corporation may require a developer to
1-32 provide permanent recorded easements to and throughout the
1-33 subdivision adequate for the construction, installation,
1-34 maintenance, replacement, upgrade, inspection, or test of any
1-35 facility necessary to serve the subdivision's anticipated service
1-36 demands when the subdivision is fully occupied.
1-37 (g) [(d)] A district or water supply corporation may also
1-38 lease property from others for its use on such terms and conditions
1-39 as the board of the district or the board of directors of the water
1-40 supply corporation may determine to be advantageous.
1-41 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-42 (b) The changes in law made by Sections 49.218(d), (e), and
1-43 (f), Water Code, as added by this Act, apply only to an application
1-44 for service that is made with a district or water supply
1-45 corporation on or after September 1, 2001.
1-46 * * * * *