By: Armbrister S.B. No. 1276
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, formerly known as
the Jackson County Flood Control District.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 1, Chapter 186,
Acts of the 50th Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, are amended to
read as follows:
(a) There is hereby created and established within the State
of Texas, in addition to the Districts into which the state has
heretofore been divided, a Conservation and Reclamation District to
be known as the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority [Jackson County
Flood Control District], (hereinafter called the District), and
consisting of that part of the State of Texas which is known as and
included within the boundaries of Jackson County, Texas (the
boundaries of the District being coextensive with the boundaries of
Jackson County, Texas, and the District including all of the lands
and other property, both real and personal, within the boundaries
of said county). Such District shall be a governmental agency and
body politic and corporate, with the powers of government and with
the authority to exercise the rights, privileges, and functions
hereinafter specified, the creation and establishment of such
District being essential to the accomplishment of the purposes of
Section 59 of Article XVI, Constitution of Texas, including the
control, storing, preservation, and distribution of the storm and
flood waters, and the waters of the rivers and streams of Jackson
County and their tributaries, inside and outside the boundaries of
the District, for domestic, municipal, flood control, irrigation,
agricultural, mining and recovery of minerals, hydroelectric
power, navigation, recreation and pleasure, public parks, game
preserves, and other useful purposes, the development of parks on
lands owned or acquired by the District, the reclamation and
drainage of the overflow land of Jackson County, the conservation
and development of forests, development, generation, distribution,
and sale of electric power and energy inside or outside the
boundaries of the District, and to aid in the protection and
promotion of navigation on the navigable waters by regulating the
flood and storm waters that flow into said navigable streams. In
addition, the District may discover, develop, and produce
groundwater within the boundaries of the Lavaca River Basin for use
within that portion of a county located within the boundaries of the
Lavaca River Basin where groundwater is discovered, developed, and
produced and may coordinate and contract with groundwater
conservation districts to engage in conjunctive groundwater and
surface water management.
(b) The management and control of the District shall be
vested in a Board of Directors consisting of nine (9) members, who
must reside within the District and shall be freehold property
taxpayers and legal voters of the State of Texas. The[, the]
members of the Board of Directors shall be appointed by the Governor
of Texas with the advice and consent of [and confirmed by] the
Senate. As soon as practicable after the passage of this Act (as
hereby amended), the members of the Board of Directors shall be
appointed (hereinafter referred to as "First Board"). In
appointing the members of the First Board, the Governor shall
appoint three (3) members to serve until May 1, 1961, and until
their successors are appointed and qualified, three (3) members to
serve until May 1, 1963, and until their successors are appointed
and qualified, and three (3) members to serve until May 1, 1965, and
until their successors are appointed and qualified. Except for the
First Board, the terms of office of the members of the Board of
Directors shall be for six (6) years ending on May 1st, and until
their successors are appointed and qualified, three (3) members to
be appointed during the month of April of each odd-numbered year by
the Governor to succeed the members whose terms of office shall
expire on the following May 1st. If a vacancy on the Board of
Directors occurs because of the resignation or death of a member, or
otherwise, the Governor shall fill the same for the unexpired term
by the appointment of a successor member. Each Director
[Directors] shall qualify by taking the official oath of office and
filing a good and sufficient bond with the Secretary of State in the
amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.), which shall be payable to
the District, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his (or
her) official duties as a Director.
SECTION 2. Section 2, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2. Except as expressly limited by this Act, the
District shall have and is hereby authorized to exercise all
powers, rights, privileges and functions which are now, or
hereafter may be, conferred by General or Special Law upon any
[flood control] District or Districts created pursuant to, or
operating under, Section 59 of Article XVI, Constitution of Texas.
Without in any way limiting the generality of the foregoing, the
District shall have and is hereby authorized to exercise the
powers, rights, privileges, and functions described by Section 1 of
this Act. In addition, the District has the following powers,
rights, privileges, and functions:
(a) To acquire by lease, gift, devise, purchase,
condemnation, or in any other manner provided by law and to
construct, maintain, use, and operate any property or any interest
in property, including real or personal property, inside or outside
the boundaries of the District, necessary or convenient to the
District's powers, rights, privileges, and functions under this Act
[otherwise, lands and rights and interests therein and any other
character of property necessary or useful for any of the purposes
provided in Section 1(a) hereof].
(b) To lease, sell, trade, or otherwise dispose of any
property or any interest in property, including real or personal
property, [land or other property or rights therein] when the same
are no longer needed for carrying on the business of the District
[such purposes].
(c) To appoint a manager and such other officers, agents,
and employees, and to prescribe their duties and fix their
compensation (including an engineer or engineers and legal
counsel).
(d) To authorize its officers, employees, or agents to go
upon any lands lying within the District for the purpose of making
surveys and examining such lands in connection with any District
plans or projects and for any other lawful purpose within the scope
of its authority.
(e) To devise plans and construct works to lessen and
control floods or to reclaim lands in the District; to prevent the
deposit of silt in navigable streams; to remove obstructions,
natural or artificial, from streams and water courses; to regulate
the flow of surface and flood waters; to provide drainage; and to
accomplish any other purpose within the scope of its authority.
(f) To borrow money for any of the purposes, consistent with
the Constitution, provided by this Act or by the General Laws (and
without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, to borrow
money and accept grants from the United States of America, the State
of Texas, or [from] any corporation or agency created or designated
by the United States of America or the State of Texas, and in
connection with any such loan or grant to enter into such agreements
as the United States of America, the State of Texas, or such
corporations or agencies may require), and to make and issue its
notes and [negotiable] bonds (tax bonds or notes, revenue bonds or
notes, and/or combination tax-revenue bonds or notes) for such
borrowed money in the manner and to the extent provided herein.
(g) To cooperate with, or to contract with, any agency or
political subdivision of the state, or any city or town within the
boundaries of the District in relation to surveys, the acquisition
of land or right-of-ways, the construction or maintenance of
projects or parts thereof or the financing of the same in connection
with any matter within the scope of this Act.
(h) To sue and be sued in its corporate name.
(i) To adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal.
(j) To make bylaws, rules, and regulations for the
management and regulation of its affairs.
(k) To make contracts and execute instruments necessary or
convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights, privileges, and
functions conferred upon it by this Act or by general law.
(l) To do any and all other acts or things necessary or
convenient [proper] to the exercise of all of the powers, rights,
privileges, authority, or functions provided by the Constitution of
Texas, this Act, or other applicable law [carry into effect any of
the foregoing powers].
(m) In the event that the District, in the exercise of the
power of eminent domain or power of relocation, or any other power
granted hereunder, makes necessary the relocation, raising,
rerouting or changing the grade of, or altering the construction of
any highway, railroad, electric transmission line, telephone or
telegraph properties and facilities, or pipeline, all such
necessary relocation, raising, rerouting, changing of grade or
alteration of construction shall be accomplished at the sole
expense of the District.
(n) In no event shall the power of eminent domain be
exercised by said District beyond the limits of Jackson County.
(o) To own, construct, operate, and maintain facilities
relating to:
(1) water supply and treatment;
(2) wastewater treatment and distribution;
(3) solid waste;
(4) electric power generation;
(5) flood monitoring, warning, and control;
(6) water quality protection, including non-point
source pollution control measures;
(7) emergency communication support to other
political subdivisions;
(8) aquatic weed control and development;
(9) parks and recreation; and
(10) monitoring and collecting data to support the
facilities listed in Subdivisions (1)-(9) of this subsection.
(p) To effectively and efficiently meet current and future
water supply demands inside or outside the boundaries of the
District, the District may acquire, construct, develop, operate,
and maintain desalination projects inside or outside the boundaries
of the District. In relation to the development and operation of
desalination projects, the District may:
(1) own and operate a facility that is ancillary to a
desalination project, including an electric power generation
facility;
(2) incur debt and receive funding through grants; and
(3) form development corporations that may be funded
by the Texas Water Development Board.
SECTION 3. Section 3, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. The Board of Directors shall cause to be kept
complete and accurate records and accounts conforming to approved
methods of bookkeeping, and shall preserve their minutes,
contracts, records, notices, accounts, receipts, and records of all
kinds in a fireproof vault or safe. A regular office shall be
established and maintained for the conduct of District business
within the District.
Each Director shall receive fees of office not to exceed $100
a day for each day the Director performs the duties of a Director,
or as state law otherwise authorizes, [for his services Ten Dollars
($10.) per day for each day served] plus actual traveling expenses,
provided that such compensation and expenses are approved by a vote
of the Board, and provided further, that no Director shall receive
more than $6,000 [Six Hundred Dollars ($600.)] per year or as state
law otherwise authorizes for such fees of office [per diem
services]. Each Director shall file with the General Manager
[Secretary] a statement showing the amount due him each month or as
soon thereafter as practicable, before a check shall be issued
therefor.
No Director, engineer, officer, or employee of the District,
either for himself or as agent for anyone else, shall benefit
directly or indirectly by reason of any sale, purchase, or contract
entered into by the District [Board]. If any such person shall
directly or indirectly become interested in any such sale,
purchase, or contract, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine in any sum of not to
exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.) or by confinement in the
county jail for not less than six (6) months nor more than one (1)
year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
All bonds required to be given by officers and employees of
the District shall be executed by a surety company authorized to do
business in the State of Texas as surety thereon, and the District
shall be authorized to pay the premium on such bonds.
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 6, Chapter 186, Acts of
the 50th Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 6. (a) For the purpose of providing funds for any of
the purposes provided by this Act or any other laws relating to
[flood control] districts created or operating under Section 59 of
Article XVI of the Constitution of Texas, the Board of Directors
shall have the power from time to time to issue negotiable bonds for
and on behalf of the District, which bonds may be secured by any one
of the following methods:
(1) Solely by a pledge of and payable from the net
revenues derived from the operation of all or a designated part of
the improvements and facilities of the District then in existence
or to be constructed or acquired, with the duty on the Board of
Directors to charge and collect fees, tolls, and charges, so long as
the bonds are outstanding, sufficient to pay all maintenance and
operation expenses of the improvements and facilities (the income
of which is pledged), the interest on such bonds as it accrues, the
principal of such bonds as it matures, and to make any and all other
payments as may be prescribed in the bond order or resolution; or
(2) By a pledge of and payable from an ad valorem tax
upon all taxable property within the District under Section 59 of
Article XVI of the Constitution of Texas, with the duty on the Board
of Directors each year while the bonds, or any part of them, are
outstanding to levy, and cause to be assessed and collected, a tax
sufficient to pay the interest on such bonds as it accrues and the
principal of such bonds as it matures; or
(3) By a combination of the methods prescribed under
(1) and (2) above, wherein the bonds are supported and secured by an
ad valorem tax, with the duty on the Board of Directors to charge
and collect fees, tolls, and charges, so long as the bonds are
outstanding, so the (in the manner prescribed in the bond order or
resolution) amount of tax to be collected from time to time may be
reduced or abated to the extent that the revenues from the operation
of said improvements and facilities (the income of which is
pledged) are sufficient to meet the requirements for maintenance
and operation of said improvements and facilities and to provide
funds for the bonds as prescribed in said bond order or resolution.
"Net revenues" as used herein shall mean the gross revenues
derived from the operation of those improvements and facilities of
the District the income of which is pledged to the payment of the
bonds less the reasonable expense of maintaining and operating said
improvements and facilities, and said maintenance and operation
expenses shall include, among other things, necessary repair,
upkeep, and insurance of said improvements and facilities.
In the resolution or order adopted by the Board of Directors
authorizing the issuance of bonds payable in whole or in part from
net revenues, the Board may provide for the flow of funds, the
establishment and maintenance of the interest and sinking fund,
reserve fund, and other funds, and may make such additional
covenants with respect to the bonds and the pledged revenues and the
operation, maintenance, and upkeep of those improvements and
facilities (the income of which is pledged), including provision
for the leasing of all or a part of said improvements and facilities
and the use or pledge of moneys derived from leases thereof, as it
may deem appropriate. Said resolution or order may also prohibit
the further issuance of bonds or other obligations payable from the
pledged net revenues, or may reserve the right to issue additional
bonds to be secured by a pledge of and payable from said net
revenues on a parity with, or subordinate to, the lien and pledge in
support of the bonds being issued, subject to such conditions as are
set forth in said resolution or order. Such resolution or order may
contain such other provisions and covenants, as the Board of
Directors shall determine, not prohibited by the Constitution of
Texas or by this Act, and the Board may adopt and cause to be
executed any other proceedings or instruments necessary and/or
convenient in the issuance of said bonds.
SECTION 5. Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1947, is amended by adding Section 8A to read as
follows:
Sec. 8A. The Board of Directors, without an election, may
borrow money on negotiable or nonnegotiable notes of the District
to be paid solely from the revenues of the District derived from the
ownership of all or a designated part of the District's works,
plant, improvements, facilities, equipment, or water rights, after
deduction of the reasonable cost of maintaining and operating the
facilities. The District may not pay any part of an obligation from
taxes levied or collected by the District. The Board of Directors
may designate the notes as first lien or subordinate lien notes. An
obligation shall be a charge on the revenues pledged for the payment
of the obligation, not a charge on the property of the District or
on the taxes levied or collected by the District.
SECTION 6. Section 9, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 9. All maintenance tax elections shall be called and
held as is provided in Section 6(b) of this Act relating to
elections for bonds payable in whole or in part from taxes, and the
following shall appear on the ballot in such maintenance tax
elections:
"For maintenance tax"; and the contrary thereof.
This being a county-wide District, the regular voting or
election precincts established by the Commissioners Court of
Jackson County for county-wide elections shall be the voting or
election precincts for all elections called and held under the
provisions of this Act. Except as modified herein, the General
Election Laws of the State of Texas shall apply to and govern all
elections called and held under the provisions hereof.
SECTION 7. Section 10a, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 10a. The Board of Directors may contract as provided by
Chapter 791, Government Code, [the Interlocal Cooperation Act
(Article 4413(32c), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)] with the Board
of Directors of the Jackson County Appraisal District for the
performance of duties relating to assessment or collection of taxes
on behalf of the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. The Board of
Directors may contract with any other political subdivision of this
state having authority to assess or collect taxes in Jackson
County, either now existing or created in the future, for the
assessment or collection of taxes on behalf of the Lavaca-Navidad
River Authority.
SECTION 8. Section 12, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 12. Lavaca-Navidad River Authority [Jackson County
Flood Control District] heretofore created is in all things
validated, and any and all acts relating to the District heretofore
performed or done by said District or its governing body or any
other officials of the State or of Jackson County are in all things
validated.
SECTION 9. The following sections are repealed:
(1) Section 1(a), Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947, as added by Chapter 417, Acts
of the 61st Legislature, Regular Session, 1969; and
(2) Sections 11 and 11a, Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1947.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
Amend S.B. No. 1276 as follows:
(1) In SECTION 1 of the bill, in amended Section 1(a),
Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th Legislature, Regular Session, 1947
(Senate engrossed version, page 2, line 9), strike "development,
generation, distribution," and substitute "financing of and aiding
in the development of facilities located on lands owned by the
District for the generation, transmission,".
(2) In SECTION 2 of the bill, in proposed Section 2(o),
Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th Legislature, Regular Session, 1947
(Senate engrossed version, page 7, line 3), between "generation"
and the semicolon, insert ", to the extent authorized by Section
1(a) of this Act".
(3) In SECTION 2 of the bill, in proposed Section 2(p),
Chapter 186, Acts of the 50th Legislature, Regular Session, 1947
(Senate engrossed version, page 7, line 21), between "facility" and
the semicolon, insert "to the extent authorized by Section 1(a) of
this Act".
78R16973 RCJ-F Hardcastle