1-1 By: Hilderbran (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth) H.B. No. 3543
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2001;
1-3 May 7, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
1-4 Resources; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the name, elections, duties, powers, operation, and
1-9 financing of the Headwaters Underground Water Conservation
1-10 District.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 1(a), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-14 (a) A groundwater [An underground water] conservation
1-15 district, to be known as the Headwaters Groundwater [Underground
1-16 Water] Conservation District, is created in Kerr County, subject to
1-17 approval at a confirmation election under Section 8 of this Act.
1-18 The district is a governmental agency and a body politic and
1-19 corporate.
1-20 SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-21 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-22 Sec. 2. DEFINITION [DEFINITIONS]. In this Act, "district"
1-23 means the Headwaters Groundwater [Underground Water] Conservation
1-24 District.
1-25 SECTION 3. Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
1-26 Regular Session, 1991, is amended by adding Section 2A to read as
1-27 follows:
1-28 Sec. 2A. NAME CHANGE. A reference in law to the Headwaters
1-29 Underground Water Conservation District means the Headwaters
1-30 Groundwater Conservation District.
1-31 SECTION 4. Section 5, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-32 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-33 Sec. 5. POWERS. (a) The district has all of the rights,
1-34 powers, privileges, authority, functions, and duties provided by
1-35 the general law of this state, including Chapter 36 [Chapters 50
1-36 and 52], Water Code, applicable to groundwater [underground water]
1-37 conservation districts created under Article XVI, Section 59, of
1-38 the Texas Constitution. This Act prevails over any provision of
1-39 general law that is in conflict or inconsistent with this Act.
1-40 (b) The rights, powers, privileges, authority, functions,
1-41 and duties of the district are subject to the continuing right of
1-42 supervision of the state to be exercised by and through the Texas
1-43 Natural Resource Conservation [Water] Commission.
1-44 (c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the following provisions
1-45 prevail over a conflicting or inconsistent provision of this Act:
1-46 (1) Sections 36.1071-36.108, Water Code;
1-47 (2) Sections 36.159-36.161, Water Code; and
1-48 (3) Subchapter I, Chapter 36, Water Code.
1-49 SECTION 5. Section 6, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-50 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended by amending
1-51 Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
1-52 (e) Each director must qualify to serve as director in the
1-53 manner provided by Section 36.055 [Sections 51.078 and 51.079],
1-54 Water Code.
1-55 (h) To be eligible to serve on the board of directors, a
1-56 person must have been a resident of the district for at least one
1-57 year before the date the person takes office as a director.
1-58 SECTION 6. Section 9, Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
1-59 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
1-60 Sec. 9. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. (a) The directors of the
1-61 district shall be elected according to the commissioners precinct
1-62 method as provided by this section.
1-63 (b) Directors' elections shall occur on the general election
1-64 dates for the election of county commissioners, except that if
2-1 directors' elections may not lawfully be held on the general
2-2 election dates for the election of county commissioners, directors'
2-3 elections shall occur on the first Saturday in May of odd-numbered
2-4 years.
2-5 (c) One director shall be elected by the electors of the
2-6 entire district, and one director shall be elected from each county
2-7 commissioners precinct by the electors of that precinct.
2-8 (d) To be qualified to be a candidate for or to serve as
2-9 director at large, a person must be a registered voter in the
2-10 district. To be a candidate for or to serve as director from a
2-11 county commissioners precinct, a person must be a registered voter
2-12 of that precinct.
2-13 (e) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
2-14 on the ballot:
2-15 (1) the precinct that the person seeks to represent;
2-16 or
2-17 (2) that the person seeks to represent the district at
2-18 large.
2-19 (f) At the first election after the county commissioners
2-20 precincts are redrawn under Section 18, Article V, Texas
2-21 Constitution, four new directors shall be elected to represent the
2-22 precincts. The directors elected shall draw lots to determine
2-23 which two directors serve two-year terms and which two directors
2-24 serve four-year terms. [On the first Saturday in May of the second
2-25 year after the year in which the district is authorized to be
2-26 created at a confirmation election, an election shall be held in
2-27 the district for the election of two directors who shall each serve
2-28 two-year terms and three directors who shall each serve four year
2-29 terms. Thereafter, on the same date in each subsequent second
2-30 year, the appropriate number of directors shall be elected to the
2-31 board.]
2-32 SECTION 7. Section 10(a), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd
2-33 Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
2-34 (a) The district may [shall] contract with Kerr County or a
2-35 river authority whose boundaries are coextensive with the
2-36 district's boundaries for services available from the county or
2-37 river authority that directly relate to the district's activities.
2-38 Any party to a contract required by this subsection may petition
2-39 the commission to resolve any dispute arising out of the contract.
2-40 SECTION 8. Notwithstanding Section 9, Chapter 693, Acts of
2-41 the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, as amended by this
2-42 Act:
2-43 (1) the three directors of the Headwaters Groundwater
2-44 Conservation District elected at the directors' election in May
2-45 2001 shall continue to serve until their successors take office
2-46 following an election in November 2004, except that if the district
2-47 is prohibited from holding a directors' election on the same date
2-48 as the general election for county commissioners, those three
2-49 directors shall continue to serve until their successors take
2-50 office following an election in May 2005;
2-51 (2) at the district directors' election in November
2-52 2004, or alternatively, in May 2005, one director shall be elected
2-53 at large, one director shall be elected from Commissioners Precinct
2-54 No. 2 of Kerr County, and one director shall be elected from
2-55 Commissioners Precinct No. 4 of that county;
2-56 (3) the two district directors elected in May 2003
2-57 shall continue to serve until their successors take office
2-58 following an election in November 2006, except that if the district
2-59 is prohibited from holding a directors' election on the same date
2-60 as the general election for county commissioners, those two
2-61 directors shall continue to serve until their successors take
2-62 office following an election in May 2007; and
2-63 (4) at the district directors' election in November
2-64 2006, or if necessary, in May 2007, one director shall be elected
2-65 from Commissioners Precinct No. 1 of Kerr County, and one director
2-66 shall be elected from Commissioners Precinct No. 3 of that county.
2-67 SECTION 9. The eligibility requirement created by Section
2-68 6(h), Chapter 693, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session,
2-69 1991, as added by this Act, applies only to a director elected
3-1 after the effective date of this Act.
3-2 SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
3-3 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
3-4 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
3-5 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
3-6 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
3-7 * * * * *