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                                  * * * * *