By: Bernsen S.B. No. 1646
2001S0772/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to conferring on the Coastal Water Authority the power to
1-3 abandon or deconstruct a canal, ditch, or lateral; changing the
1-4 qualifications of the authority's board of directors; and
1-5 authorizing the authority to issue refunding bonds.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th
1-8 Legislature, Regular Session, 1967 (Article 8280-355, Vernon's
1-9 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-10 Sec. 3. The Authority shall have and exercise and is hereby
1-11 vested with all of the rights, powers and privileges, authorities
1-12 and functions conferred and imposed by the general laws of this
1-13 state now in force or hereafter enacted applicable to water control
1-14 and improvement districts and municipal utility districts created
1-15 under authority of Section 59 of Article XVI, Constitution of
1-16 Texas, but to the extent that the provisions of such general laws
1-17 may be in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act,
1-18 the provisions of this Act shall prevail. All such general laws
1-19 are hereby adopted and incorporated by reference with the same
1-20 effect as if incorporated in full in this Act. Without in any way
1-21 limiting the generalization of the foregoing, it is expressly
1-22 provided that the Authority shall have and exercise, and is hereby
1-23 vested with, all of the rights, powers and privileges, authorities
1-24 and functions conferred by Chapters 51 and 54, Title 4, Water Code,
1-25 together with all amendments thereof and additions thereto. The
2-1 Authority shall have the power to make, construct, or otherwise
2-2 acquire improvements either within or without the boundaries
2-3 thereof necessary to carry out the powers and authority granted by
2-4 this Act and said general laws. Not by way of limitation, the
2-5 Authority shall be authorized and empowered to conserve, store,
2-6 transport, treat and purify, distribute, sell and deliver water,
2-7 both surface and underground, to persons, corporations, both public
2-8 and private, political subdivisions of the state and others, and
2-9 may purchase, construct or lease all property, works and
2-10 facilities, both within and without the Authority, necessary for
2-11 such purposes. The Authority is expressly authorized to acquire
2-12 water supplies from sources both within and without the boundaries
2-13 of the Authority and to sell, transport and deliver water to
2-14 customers situated within and without the Authority and to acquire
2-15 all properties and facilities necessary for such purposes, and for
2-16 any and all of such purposes may enter into contracts with persons,
2-17 with municipal, public and private corporations, including the City
2-18 of Houston, and any political subdivision of the state for such
2-19 periods of time, not exceeding forty (40) years, and on such terms
2-20 and conditions as its Board of Directors may deem desirable, fair
2-21 and advantageous and to which the parties may agree; provided, that
2-22 such contracts may provide that they shall continue in effect until
2-23 bonds issued by the Authority to finance the cost of water system
2-24 facilities, and refunding bonds issued in lieu thereof, are paid.
2-25 In addition, the Authority shall have the power to contract with
2-26 others to transport their water and the power to act jointly with
3-1 others in the performance of all functions and purposes of the
3-2 Authority. Provided that the Authority has no existing contractual
3-3 obligation to any person, corporation or political subdivision to
3-4 use a particular canal, lateral or ditch to transport or deliver
3-5 water, the Authority is expressly authorized to abandon, sell,
3-6 release or deconstruct that canal, ditch or lateral if any of the
3-7 following conditions apply: (i) the Authority has not used the
3-8 canal, ditch or lateral to transport or deliver water to persons,
3-9 corporations or political subdivisions of the state for a period of
3-10 five (5) years; (ii) there are intervening gaps between the canal,
3-11 ditch or lateral the Authority wishes to abandon, sell, release or
3-12 deconstruct and the Authority's primary canal serving that canal,
3-13 lateral or ditch; or (iii) an adjoining landowner has requested in
3-14 writing that the Authority abandon, sell, release or deconstruct
3-15 the canal, ditch or lateral and no other adjoining landowner has
3-16 objected within thirty (30) days after receiving notice from the
3-17 Authority of its intent to abandon, sell, release or deconstruct
3-18 the canal, ditch or lateral. [The Authority shall comply with the
3-19 provisions of Chapter 1, Title 128, Revised Civil Statutes of
3-20 Texas, 1925, as amended.] Nothing herein contained shall preclude
3-21 the Authority from acquiring water rights under any law or permits
3-22 heretofore or hereafter issued, provided acquisition of the same is
3-23 approved by order or subsequent permit from the Texas Natural
3-24 Resource Conservation [Water] Commission.
3-25 SECTION 2. Section 5(a), Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th
3-26 Legislature, Regular Session, 1967 (Article 8280-355, Vernon's
4-1 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
4-2 Sec. 5(a). The management and control of the Authority is
4-3 hereby vested in a board of seven (7) directors who shall be at
4-4 least twenty-one (21) years of age and shall be residents and
4-5 landowners of Harris County or that part of Chambers and Liberty
4-6 Counties which are within the boundaries of the Authority. Four
4-7 (4) of such directors and their successors, being positions
4-8 numbered one (1) to four (4) inclusive, shall be appointed by the
4-9 mayor of the City of Houston with the advice and consent of the
4-10 governing body of such city. The remaining three (3) directors and
4-11 their successors, being positions numbered five (5) to seven (7)
4-12 inclusive shall be appointed by the Governor of Texas with the
4-13 advice and consent of the Senate, one of whom shall be a resident
4-14 of Chambers County, one a resident of Liberty County and one a
4-15 resident of Harris County. Vacancies in positions one (1) through
4-16 four (4) shall be filled by appointment by the mayor of the City of
4-17 Houston with the advice and consent of its governing body, and
4-18 vacancies in positions five (5) through seven (7) shall be filled
4-19 by appointment by the Governor of Texas with the advice and consent
4-20 of the Senate. Any director appointed by the mayor or governor
4-21 shall be entitled to serve as a director pending his approval by
4-22 the said governing body or Senate. Beginning in the year 2005, a
4-23 person appointed to the board of directors by the Governor of Texas
4-24 need not be a resident within the boundaries of the Authority if
4-25 the person is a resident within the area of Liberty County south of
4-26 U.S. Highway 90 and west of the Trinity River.
5-1 The directors first appointed shall meet and organize as soon
5-2 as practicable after the effective date of this Act, and shall file
5-3 their official bonds and subscribe to the Constitutional oath of
5-4 office. The directors first appointed shall serve until April 1,
5-5 1969, and all terms of office thereafter shall be for a period of
5-6 two (2) years except for the first term of office after April 1,
5-7 1969, for positions one (1), two (2) and six (6) which shall be for
5-8 a term of one (1) year. No member of the governing body of the
5-9 City of Houston and no employee of the City of Houston shall be
5-10 appointed as a director.
5-11 At its April, 1969, meeting the board shall reorganize and
5-12 elect from its members a president, vice-president,
5-13 secretary-treasurer and such other officers as it deems necessary.
5-14 A person who is elected to a board office shall serve for two (2)
5-15 years in that capacity or until he ceases to be a director, if this
5-16 event occurs within two (2) years. At its April meeting of each
5-17 year the board shall elect officers for the offices to be filled.
5-18 If a vacancy occurs in a board office, the directors at the next
5-19 regular board meeting shall elect a person to serve until the next
5-20 April meeting of the board.
5-21 SECTION 3. Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th Legislature,
5-22 Regular Session, 1967 (Article 8280-355, Vernon's Civil Statutes),
5-23 is amended by adding Section 6(a) to read as follows:
5-24 Sec. 6(a). The Authority is authorized to issue its
5-25 refunding bonds to refund any Authority bond or obligation in
5-26 accordance with the laws of the state including bonds or other
6-1 obligations that have previously been defeased by the Authority by
6-2 escrowing United States Government obligations to pay the
6-3 principal, interest and redemption price to their maturity date and
6-4 would otherwise be deemed to be no longer outstanding.
6-5 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.