H.B. No. 3374
AN ACT
relating to the creation, administration, powers, duties,
operation, and financing of the Kenedy County Groundwater
Conservation District.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
(1) "Board" means the board of directors of the
district.
(2) "District" means the Kenedy County Groundwater
Conservation District.
SECTION 2. CREATION. (a) A groundwater conservation
district, to be known as the Kenedy County Groundwater Conservation
District, is created in Kenedy County, subject to approval at a
confirmation election under Section 10 of this Act.
(b) The district is a governmental agency and a political
subdivision of this state.
SECTION 3. FINDINGS OF BENEFIT AND PUBLIC PURPOSE. (a) The
district is created to serve a public use and benefit.
(b) The district is created under and is essential to
accomplish the purposes of Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
Constitution.
(c) All of the land and other property included within the
boundaries of the district will be benefited by the works and
projects that are to be accomplished by the district under powers
conferred by Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
SECTION 4. BOUNDARIES. The boundaries of the district are
coextensive with Kenedy County, Texas, and also include the
following separate tracts:
(a) A tract of land known as the Laureles Ranch containing
255,026.53 acres, more or less, in Kleberg and Nueces Counties,
Texas, being more particularly described in an oil, gas, and
mineral lease from the Executors and Trustees under the will of Mrs.
Henrietta M. King, deceased, to Humble Oil & Refining Company dated
September 26, 1933, recorded in Volume 20, page 1-13, of the Oil and
Gas Lease Records of Nueces County, Texas, and Volume 37, pages
183-189, of the Deed Records of Kleberg County, Texas, said tract
having been described as Item First in said lease to which reference
is here made for a complete description thereof;
(b) A tract of land known as the Santa Gertrudis Ranch
containing 203,468.13 acres, more or less, in Kleberg, Jim Wells,
and Brooks Counties, Texas, and composed of two parcels as follows:
(1) A parcel of land containing 173,028.90 acres,
more or less, in Kleberg, Jim Wells, and Brooks Counties, being more
particularly described in an oil, gas, and mineral lease from the
Executors and Trustees under the will of Mrs. Henrietta M. King,
deceased, to Humble Oil & Refining Company dated September 26,
1933, recorded in Volume 20, pages 1-13, of the Oil and Gas Lease
Records of Nueces County, Texas, and Volume 37, pages 183-189, of
the Deed Records of Kleberg County, Texas, said tract having been
described as Item Second in said lease to which reference is here
made for a complete description thereof; and
(2) A parcel of land containing 30,439.23 acres, more
or less, in Kleberg and Jim Wells Counties, Texas, being more
particularly described in an oil, gas, and mineral lease from Alice
G.K. Kleberg to Humble Oil & Refining Company dated September 26,
1933, recorded in Volume 37, page 200-206, of the Deed Records of
Kleberg County, Texas, and in Volume 50, page 166-172, of the Deed
Records of Jim Wells County, Texas, to which reference is here made
for a complete description thereof; and
(c) ALL of Farm Lots Twelve (12) and Thirteen (13), in Block
or Section Number Nine (9), of the Kleberg Town and Improvement
Company's Subdivision in Kleberg County, Texas or 74.62 acres more
or less, AND BEING the same property conveyed to John B. Armstrong
and Henrietta L. Armstrong, Trustees by Deed executed by Bessie Y.
Larkin, et al, dated June 10, 1964, and filed for recorded in the
Office of the County Clerk of Kleberg County, Texas, Volume 183,
Pages 524-527; and
(d) Lot 3 of Survey 283, A-124, of C.B.& C.N.G.R.R. Co.
according to Mrs. H. M. King Second Subdivision of Rivera Farm
Lands, containing 77.89 acres of land, more or less, and being the
same tract of land that was conveyed to King Ranch by J. F. McCullar
by deed dated November 2, 1943, recorded in Vol. 61, page 90 of the
Deed Records of Kleberg County, Texas.
(e) The tract of land described in Subsection (a) of this
section does not include the 1999.96 acre tract of land described in
Volume 1386, Pages 193-205, Nueces County Deed Records.
(f) The legislature finds that the boundaries and field
notes of the district form a closure.
SECTION 5. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAW. This Act prevails
over any provision of general law that is in conflict or
inconsistent with this Act.
SECTION 6. BOARD OF DIRECTORS. (a) The district is
governed by a board of five directors.
(b) Temporary directors serve until initial directors are
elected under Section 10 of this Act.
(c) Two of the initial directors serve until the first
election of permanent directors under Section 11 of this Act. Three
of the initial directors serve until the second election of
permanent directors under Section 11 of this Act.
(d) Permanent directors serve staggered four-year terms.
(e) Each director must qualify to serve as director in the
manner provided by Section 36.055, Water Code.
(f) A director serves until the director's successor has
qualified.
SECTION 7. COMPENSATION OF DIRECTORS. A director is not
entitled to fees of office but is entitled to reimbursement of
actual expenses reasonably and necessarily incurred while engaging
in activities on behalf of the district.
SECTION 8. TEMPORARY DIRECTORS. (a) The temporary board
consists of five members appointed by the Commissioners Court of
Kenedy County.
(b) If a temporary director fails to qualify for office, the
Commissioners Court of Kenedy County shall appoint a person to fill
the vacancy.
SECTION 9. METHOD OF ELECTING DIRECTORS: COMMISSIONERS
PRECINCTS. (a) The directors of the district shall be elected
according to the commissioners precinct method as provided by this
section.
(b) One director shall be elected by the voters of the Santa
Gertrudis Independent School District, and one director shall be
elected from each Kenedy County commissioners precinct by the
voters of that precinct.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (e) of this section, to
be eligible to be a candidate for or to serve as director at large, a
person must be a registered voter in the district. To be a
candidate for or to serve as director from a county commissioners
precinct, a person must be a registered voter of that precinct.
(d) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
on the ballot:
(1) the precinct that the person seeks to represent;
or
(2) that the person seeks to represent the district at
large.
(e) When the boundaries of the county commissioners
precincts are redrawn after each federal decennial census to
reflect population changes, a director in office on the effective
date of the change, or a director elected or appointed before the
effective date of the change whose term of office begins on or after
the effective date of the change, shall serve in the precinct to
which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries
places the person's residence outside the precinct for which the
person was elected or appointed.
SECTION 10. CONFIRMATION AND INITIAL DIRECTORS' ELECTION.
(a) The temporary board shall call and hold an election to confirm
establishment of the district and to elect initial directors.
(b) At the confirmation and initial directors' election,
the temporary board shall have placed on the ballot the name of any
candidate filing for an initial director's position and blank
spaces to write in the names of other persons. A temporary director
who is eligible to be a candidate under Section 9 may file for an
initial director's position.
(c) The initial directors elected shall draw lots to decide
which two shall serve terms lasting until replacement directors are
elected at the first regularly scheduled election of directors
under Section 11 of this Act and which three shall serve until the
second regularly scheduled election of directors.
(d) Section 41.001(a), Election Code, does not apply to a
confirmation and initial directors' election held as provided by
this section.
(e) Except as provided by this section, a confirmation and
initial directors' election must be conducted as provided by
Sections 36.017(b)-(i), Water Code, and the Election Code.
SECTION 11. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. (a) On the first
Saturday in May of the first even-numbered year after the year in
which the district is authorized to be created at a confirmation
election, an election shall be held in the district for the election
of two directors to replace the two initial directors serving
shorter terms from the confirmation election.
(b) On the first Saturday in May of each subsequent
even-numbered year following the election, the appropriate number
of directors shall be elected.
SECTION 12. GENERAL POWERS. The district has all of the
rights, powers, privileges, authority, functions, and duties
provided by the general law of this state, including Chapter 36,
Water Code, applicable to groundwater conservation districts
created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
SECTION 13. TAX RATE. The district may levy a tax to pay any
part of bonds or notes issued by the district at a rate not to exceed
20 cents on each $100 of assessed valuation.
SECTION 14. FINDINGS RELATED TO PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS.
(a) The legal notice of the intention to introduce this Act,
setting forth the general substance of this Act, has been published
as provided by law, and the notice and a copy of this Act have been
furnished to all persons, agencies, officials, or entities to which
they are required to be furnished under Section 59, Article XVI,
Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313, Government Code. The
governor, one of the required recipients, has submitted the notice
and Act to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(b) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor,
lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of representatives
within the required time.
(c) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
SECTION 15. EFFECTIVE DATE; EXPIRATION DATE. (a) This Act
takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) If the creation of the district is not confirmed at a
confirmation election held under Section 10 of this Act before
September 1, 2005, this Act expires on that date.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3374 was passed by the House on May 2,
2003, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in Senate
amendments to H.B. No. 3374 on May 29, 2003, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3374 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2003, by a viva-voce vote.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor