1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the name, elections, duties, powers, operation, and
1-3 financing of the Headwaters Underground Water Conservation
1-4 District.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 1(a), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) A groundwater [An underground water] conservation
1-9 district, to be known as the Headwaters Groundwater [Underground
1-10 Water] Conservation District, is created in Kerr County, subject to
1-11 approval at a confirmation election under Section 8 of this Act.
1-12 The district is a governmental agency and a body politic and
1-13 corporate.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-15 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 2. DEFINITION [DEFINITIONS]. In this Act, "district"
1-17 means the Headwaters Groundwater [Underground Water] Conservation
1-18 District.
1-19 SECTION 3. Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
1-20 Regular Session, 1991, is amended by adding Section 2A to read as
1-21 follows:
1-22 Sec. 2A. NAME CHANGE. A reference in law to the Headwaters
1-23 Underground Water Conservation District means the Headwaters
1-24 Groundwater Conservation District.
2-1 SECTION 4. Section 5, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
2-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
2-3 Sec. 5. POWERS. (a) The district has all of the rights,
2-4 powers, privileges, authority, functions, and duties provided by
2-5 the general law of this state, including Chapter 36 [Chapters 50
2-6 and 52], Water Code, applicable to groundwater [underground water]
2-7 conservation districts created under Article XVI, Section 59, of
2-8 the Texas Constitution. This Act prevails over any provision of
2-9 general law that is in conflict or inconsistent with this Act.
2-10 (b) The rights, powers, privileges, authority, functions,
2-11 and duties of the district are subject to the continuing right of
2-12 supervision of the state to be exercised by and through the Texas
2-13 Natural Resource Conservation [Water] Commission.
2-14 (c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the following provisions
2-15 prevail over a conflicting or inconsistent provision of this Act:
2-16 (1) Sections 36.1071-36.108, Water Code;
2-17 (2) Sections 36.159-36.161, Water Code; and
2-18 (3) Subchapter I, Chapter 36, Water Code.
2-19 SECTION 5. Section 6, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
2-20 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended by amending
2-21 Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
2-22 (e) Each director must qualify to serve as director in the
2-23 manner provided by Section 36.055 [Sections 51.078 and 51.079],
2-24 Water Code.
2-25 (h) To be eligible to serve on the board of directors, a
2-26 person must have been a resident of the district for at least one
2-27 year before the date the person takes office as a director.
3-1 SECTION 6. Section 9, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
3-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
3-3 Sec. 9. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. (a) The directors of the
3-4 district shall be elected according to the commissioners precinct
3-5 method as provided by this section.
3-6 (b) Directors' elections shall occur on the general election
3-7 dates for the election of county commissioners, except that if
3-8 directors' elections may not lawfully be held on the general
3-9 election dates for the election of county commissioners, directors'
3-10 elections shall occur on the first Saturday in May of odd-numbered
3-11 years.
3-12 (c) One director shall be elected by the electors of the
3-13 entire district, and one director shall be elected from each county
3-14 commissioners precinct by the electors of that precinct.
3-15 (d) To be qualified to be a candidate for or to serve as
3-16 director at large, a person must be a registered voter in the
3-17 district. To be a candidate for or to serve as director from a
3-18 county commissioners precinct, a person must be a registered voter
3-19 of that precinct.
3-20 (e) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
3-21 on the ballot:
3-22 (1) the precinct that the person seeks to represent;
3-23 or
3-24 (2) that the person seeks to represent the district at
3-25 large.
3-26 (f) At the first election after the county commissioners
3-27 precincts are redrawn under Section 18, Article V, Texas
4-1 Constitution, four new directors shall be elected to represent the
4-2 precincts. The directors elected shall draw lots to determine
4-3 which two directors serve two-year terms and which two directors
4-4 serve four-year terms. [On the first Saturday in May of the second
4-5 year after the year in which the district is authorized to be
4-6 created at a confirmation election, an election shall be held in
4-7 the district for the election of two directors who shall each serve
4-8 two-year terms and three directors who shall each serve four year
4-9 terms. Thereafter, on the same date in each subsequent second
4-10 year, the appropriate number of directors shall be elected to the
4-11 board.]
4-12 SECTION 7. Section 10(a), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
4-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
4-14 (a) The district may [shall] contract with Kerr County or a
4-15 river authority whose boundaries are coextensive with the
4-16 district's boundaries for services available from the county or
4-17 river authority that directly relate to the district's activities.
4-18 Any party to a contract required by this subsection may petition
4-19 the commission to resolve any dispute arising out of the contract.
4-20 SECTION 8. Notwithstanding Section 9, Chapter 693, Acts of
4-21 the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, as amended by this
4-22 Act:
4-23 (1) the three directors of the Headwaters Groundwater
4-24 Conservation District elected at the directors' election in May
4-25 2001 shall continue to serve until their successors take office
4-26 following an election in November 2004, except that if the district
4-27 is prohibited from holding a directors' election on the same date
5-1 as the general election for county commissioners, those three
5-2 directors shall continue to serve until their successors take
5-3 office following an election in May 2005;
5-4 (2) at the district directors' election in November
5-5 2004, or alternatively, in May 2005, one director shall be elected
5-6 at large, one director shall be elected from Commissioners Precinct
5-7 No. 2 of Kerr County, and one director shall be elected from
5-8 Commissioners Precinct No. 4 of that county;
5-9 (3) the two district directors elected in May 2003
5-10 shall continue to serve until their successors take office
5-11 following an election in November 2006, except that if the district
5-12 is prohibited from holding a directors' election on the same date
5-13 as the general election for county commissioners, those two
5-14 directors shall continue to serve until their successors take
5-15 office following an election in May 2007; and
5-16 (4) at the district directors' election in November
5-17 2006, or if necessary, in May 2007, one director shall be elected
5-18 from Commissioners Precinct No. 1 of Kerr County, and one director
5-19 shall be elected from Commissioners Precinct No. 3 of that county.
5-20 SECTION 9. The eligibility requirement created by Section
5-21 6(h), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session,
5-22 1991, as added by this Act, applies only to a director elected
5-23 after the effective date of this Act.
5-24 SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
5-25 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
5-26 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
5-27 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
6-1 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3543 was passed by the House on May
5, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3543 was passed by the Senate on May
23, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________________
Date
__________________________
Governor