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78R6782 MI-D

By:  Puente                                                       H.B. No. 2664



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the office of public interest counsel.                            
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter G, Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended 
by adding Section 5.2745 to read as follows:
	Sec. 5.2745.  BUDGET.  (a)  The office of public interest 
counsel  shall have a budget separate from the commission's budget.  
Appropriations to the office and the commission shall be made 
separately.  The director of the Legislative Budget Board, in 
preparing the state budget under Section 322.008, Government Code, 
shall provide for separate appropriations to the office of public 
interest counsel and the commission and shall treat the office of 
public interest counsel as a separate agency for that purpose.  The 
public interest counsel shall submit the biennial legislative 
appropriations request to the Legislative Budget Board.
	(b)  The public interest counsel may spend money 
appropriated to the office of public interest counsel.  Commission 
approval of expenditures for the office of public interest counsel 
is not required.
	(c)  The budget for the office of public interest counsel 
must provide not less than $100,000 for outside technical 
expertise.
	(d)  This section does not affect the administrative 
attachment of the office of public interest counsel to the 
commission and does not affect the support the commission provides 
to the office of public interest counsel for administration of the 
office, including office facilities and equipment.  This section 
applies only to compensation, reimbursement, and expenses for 
personnel and outside expertise.
	SECTION 2.  Section 5.275, Water Code, is amended to read as 
follows:        
	Sec. 5.275.  APPEAL.  (a)  The counsel may appeal a 
substantial amendment by the commission to a proposal for decision 
from the State Office of Administrative Hearings if the appeal is 
necessary to serve the public interest.
	(b)  The counsel may contest under Section 2001.038, 
Government Code, the validity of a package of rules adopted by the 
commission if the counsel believes that the rules were adopted 
without proper legal procedure or exceed the commission's authority 
[A ruling, decision, or other act of the commission may not be 
appealed by the counsel].
	SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                      
	(b)  Section 5.275(b), Water Code, as added by this Act, 
applies only to rules finally adopted or a proposal for decision 
issued on or after that date.  Rules finally adopted or a proposal 
for decision issued before that date is governed by the law in 
effect on the date the rules were finally adopted or the proposal 
for decision issued, and that law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.