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78R5266 QS-D

By:  Madla                                                        S.B. No. 531



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the procedure for dividing water control and 
improvement districts and freshwater supply districts.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 51.749, Water Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 51.749.  APPROVAL OF [ELECTION TO APPROVE] DIVISION.
	SECTION 2.  Section 51.749(a), Water Code, is amended to 
read as follows:    
	(a)  After the board of the original district has agreed on 
the terms and conditions of division, which shall include a plan for 
the payment of any outstanding current obligations and performance 
of any outstanding obligations of the original district, and has 
prepared a metes and bounds description of the proposed districts, 
the board shall submit a proposal for division to the entity that 
issued the order creating the district for approval.  If the 
district was created by an act of the legislature, the board shall 
submit a proposal for division to the commission.
	(a-1)  If the entity that issued the order creating the 
district or the commission approves the division of the district, 
the board [it] shall order an election to be held in the district to 
determine whether the original district should be divided as 
proposed.
	SECTION 3.  Section 53.029(b), Water Code, is amended to 
read as follows:    
	(b)  A district covered by this section may be divided into 
two new districts if:
		(1)  it has no outstanding bonded debt; [and]  
		(2)  it is not levying ad valorem taxes; and                    
		(3)  the division is approved by the entity that issued 
the order creating the district or, if the district was created by 
an act of the legislature, by the Texas Commission on Environmental 
Quality.
	(b-1)  The division procedure is prescribed by Sections 
53.030 to 53.041 of this code.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to the division of a water control and improvement 
district or freshwater supply district for which a landowner files 
a petition for division or the board moves to consider a proposal 
for division on or after that date.  The division of a district for 
which a landowner files a petition for division or the board moves 
to consider a proposal for division before the effective date of 
this Act is governed by the law in effect at that time, and that law 
is continued in effect for that purpose.