78R3579 SGA-F
By: Flores H.B. No. 1624
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the exclusion of urban property from irrigation
districts and subsequent water use.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1(1), Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
(1) "Urban property" means land that has been
subdivided into town lots, or town lots and blocks, or small parcels
of the same general nature of town lots, or town blocks and lots,
designed, intended, or suitable for residential or other
nonagricultural purposes, as distinguished from farm acreage,
including streets, alleys, parkways, parks, and railroad property
and rights-of-way within that subdivided land and that is in a
subdivision:
(A) that is within the corporate limits or
extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city that has subdivision
approval jurisdiction under Chapter 42, 43, or 212, Local
Government Code;
(B) [the Municipal Annexation Act (Article 970a,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or Chapter 231, Acts of the 40th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1927 (Article 974a, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), and] for which a plat or map of the subdivision
has been filed and recorded in the office of the county clerk of the
county in which the subdivision or any part of the subdivision is
located; and
(C) that is under a certificate of public
convenience and necessity issued by the applicable state agency or
within the service area of another municipal supplier.
SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2. EXCLUSION OF URBAN PROPERTY. Urban property
located within the boundaries of a district may be excluded from the
district by the board of directors in the manner and on the
conditions provided by this Act. Urban property may be excluded
only after the following have been paid to the district:
(1) all taxes, assessments, and other lawful charges
of the district accrued on the property to be excluded, together
with all lawful interest and penalties accrued on those taxes,
assessments, and charges; and
(2) the proportionate part of the outstanding bonded
indebtedness or indebtedness in connection with a loan from an
authorized agency of the United States for which the property
proposed to be excluded is liable, as determined under this Act[;
and
[(3) agreement on a reasonable determined amount to be
paid by the city or other supplier of potable water to compensate
the district for loss of revenue occasioned by the said exclusion].
SECTION 3. Section 3, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) and amending
Subsections (b) and (d) to read as follows:
(a-1) The owners, or the owners at the time of subdivision
of the property, may designate the city or other municipal supplier
serving the property with potable water as the agent to sign and
file the application.
(b) The application must:
(1) include a sworn acknowledgment describing [by the
owner or owners of the property;
[(2) describe] the property to be excluded by
identifying the lot or block number of the subdivision and the name
or designation of the subdivision as shown on the recorded plat of
the subdivision, or by some other method of identification; and
(2) [(3)] state that the property is used or intended
to be used for the purposes for which it was subdivided, and that
the property is not used or intended to be used, in whole or in part,
for agricultural purposes.
(d) The applicant shall also furnish to the district
evidence [satisfactory to, or required by, the board of directors]
of the applicant's ownership of or the agent's authority for the
property proposed to be excluded[, and of the right of the applicant
to have the property excluded] from the district.
SECTION 4. Section 4, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 4. CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATION. (a) As soon as
practicable after the filing of the application, the board of
directors of the district shall consider the application [and
inquire into all the facts relating to the application considered
by the board to be necessary to a determination of whether a public
hearing on the application should be held].
(b) If [After consideration and investigation, if] the
board finds that all taxes, assessments, and charges of the
district on the property, and interest and penalties on those
amounts, due to the district up to the date of the filing of the
application, have been paid, that the property described in the
application is owned by the applicant or that an authorized agent
has been appointed, that the property is urban property and is not
used or intended to be used for agricultural purposes but will
require a source of treated potable water from the city or other
municipal provider in the service area of which the subdivision is
located, and that the exclusion of the property will not cut off the
district or its facilities from ready and convenient access to
other land remaining in the district for irrigation or other
district purposes, the board shall pass an order approving [further
consideration of] the application. If the board adopts [is unable
to make any one of these findings, it shall adopt] a resolution
rejecting the application, [and] the resolution of the board
rejecting the application is appealable under Section 49.308, Water
Code [final and not subject to review by any other body, tribunal,
or authority].
(c) If the board approves [further consideration of] the
application, it shall proceed to determine the proportionate amount
of the bonded or contractual indebtedness for which the property to
be excluded is liable as provided by Subsection (d) of this section.
(d) If the district has outstanding bonded indebtedness,
the board shall obtain from the chief appraiser a certified copy of
the appraised value of all the property to be excluded for the five
years immediately preceding the year in which the application is
filed, as shown by the tax rolls of the district, and the appraised
value of all taxable property in the district according to the most
recent tax rolls of the district. The part of the total outstanding
bonded indebtedness of the district to be paid by the applicant as a
condition precedent to the exclusion of the property is that
proportion of the indebtedness, including unpaid interest computed
to the date of the order, that the appraised value of the property
to be excluded bears to the appraised value of all taxable property
in the district according to the most recent tax rolls. If the
district has contractual or other indebtedness being repaid on the
benefit tax basis, the board shall obtain from the appropriate
records the manner in which the tax is assessed, and from those
records the district shall calculate the part of the total
outstanding indebtedness of the district remaining to be paid
attributable to the property to be excluded. The final order of the
board approving exclusion [further consideration of the
application] also shall state the amounts required to be paid under
[by] Section 2 of this Act as a condition of the exclusion of the
property.
SECTION 5. Section 5, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5. FINAL ORDER OF THE BOARD [FURTHER PROCEEDINGS ON
APPLICATION]. (a) The final order of the board excluding the
property does not take effect [approving further consideration of
the application has no force or effect, and no further proceeding
may be held on the application] unless the applicant, on or before
the 20th day [within 20 days] after the date of adoption of the
final order [or within a period of up to 30 days after adoption of
the order as ordered by the board], deposits with the district the
amounts due under Section 2 of this Act.
(b) The district shall record in the deed records in the
county in which the excluded property is located a copy of the order
excluding urban property from the district, certified by the
secretary of the board of directors, as evidence of the exclusion.
(c) On the passage of the order, the property excluded does
not constitute a part of the district, and the owner of the
property:
(1) has no further liability to the district;
(2) has no further liability for any bonded or other
indebtedness of the district; and
(3) is not subject to further taxation by the
district.
(d) For the purpose of servicing land remaining in the
district, the district retains full rights to maintain and operate
any canals, ditches, pipelines, pumps, or other facilities of the
district located on land excluded by the order.
SECTION 6. Section 8, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8. WATER RIGHTS. If [After] the district, under this
Act or any other law, excludes urban land from its boundaries [that
lies within the corporate boundaries or extraterritorial
jurisdiction of any city], the city or other municipal supplier who
proposes to serve the land with a potable water supply may petition
the district to convert the proportionate water rights previously
allocated for the land from irrigation use rights to municipal use
rights for the use and benefit of the city or other municipal
supplier. The district shall compute the proportionate water
rights available and shall proceed with appropriate administrative
proceedings to convert the irrigation use rights to municipal use
rights. However, the city or other municipal supplier shall
deposit with the district the amount that the district estimates
will be its reasonable expenses and attorney's fees incurred in
those administrative proceedings before the district is obligated
to initiate the administrative proceedings. On approval of the
conversion by the Texas [Water] Commission on Environmental
Quality, the water shall be delivered to the city or other municipal
supplier by the district in the manner those entities may agree to
under the Water Code or under an existing contract between the
district and the city or other municipal supplier.
SECTION 7. Sections 6 and 7, Chapter 707, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's Texas
Civil Statutes), are repealed.
SECTION 8. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply to an
administrative proceeding under Section 8, Chapter 707, Acts of the
69th Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article 973c, Vernon's
Texas Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, that is initiated on
or after the effective date of this Act. An administrative
proceeding under that section that is in progress on the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to that
proceeding in effect immediately before the effective date, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.