78R7683 RCJ-F

By:  Paxton                                                       H.B. No. 2564



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to review by a county of a petition for the creation of a 
municipal utility district.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 54.0161, Water Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  If all or part of a proposed district is to be located 
outside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, the 
commissioners court of the county in which the district is to be 
located may review the petition for creation and other evidence and 
information relating to the proposed district that the 
commissioners consider necessary.  Petitioners for the creation of 
a district shall submit to the county commissioners court any 
relevant information requested by the commissioners court in the 
event a review is done. The petitioners must file the petition for 
creation of the district with the county clerk's office and the 
county judge in each county in which the district is to be located 
not later than the 90th day before the date on which a first hearing 
before the commission is set.  The petitioners must provide proof of 
this filing to the commission.  The commission may not consider the 
petition until the commission receives the proof of filing and the 
commissioners court determination on review, if a review was found 
necessary.  A review by the commissioners court is presumed to be 
necessary unless the commissioners court, not later than the 30th 
day after the date on which the petition is filed with the county 
clerk, finds by court order that a review is not necessary.  The 
commissioners court shall complete a review of the petition not 
later than the 120th day after the date on which the petition is 
filed with the county clerk unless the petitioners waive this time 
requirement or the court requires  additional time to review the 
information provided by the petitioners.
	(d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (c), the commission must 
receive the favorable recommendation of the commissioners court to 
approve a petition for a district to be located or partially located 
in a county that:
		(1)  has a population of 400,000 or more; or                           
		(2)  is adjacent to a county with a population of one 
million or more.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a petition filed with the Texas Commission on 
Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act.  A 
petition pending before the Texas Commission on Environmental 
Quality on the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in 
effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that 
law is continued in effect for that purpose.