S.B. No. 1725
AN ACT
relating to the North Harris County Regional Water Authority.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 1.03, Chapter 1029, Acts
of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is amended to read
as follows:
(d) Except to the extent the authority agrees in writing, a
municipality's annexation of territory within the authority has no
effect on the authority's ability to assess and collect inside the
territory annexed by the municipality the types of fees, rates,
charges, or special assessments that the authority was assessing
and collecting at the time the municipality initiated the
annexation; provided, however, that the authority's ability to
assess and collect such fees, rates, charges, or special
assessments shall terminate on the later to occur of (i) the date
of final payment or defeasance of any bonds or other indebtedness,
including any refunding bonds, that are secured by such fees,
rates, charges, or special assessments, or (ii) the date that the
authority no longer provides services inside the annexed territory.
[On a municipality's annexation of any of the authority's
territory, the annexed territory is excluded from the authority's
territory.] The authority shall continue to provide services to
the annexed territory in accordance with contracts in effect at the
time of the annexation unless a written agreement between the board
and the governing body of the municipality provides otherwise.
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 2.02, Chapter 1029, Acts
of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) In the manner described by Section 49.103(d), Water
Code, the board shall redraw the single-member voting districts as
required by law as soon as practicable after:
(1) each federal decennial census; and
(2) any change in the boundaries of the authority
which increases the total area of the authority by more than 20
percent.
SECTION 3. Section 4.10, Chapter 1029, Acts of the 76th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is amended by adding Subsection
(d) to read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of general
law or of a home-rule municipal charter or ordinance, the authority
and a municipality may enter into a contract of unlimited duration.
SECTION 4. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 5.05, Chapter
1029, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The authority may [shall] develop a procedure for
cooperatively funding a project of the authority with money from
other political subdivisions located entirely [districts] inside
[of] the authority's boundaries, and may develop a procedure for
cooperatively funding a project of the authority with money from
political subdivisions located in whole or in part outside the
authority's boundaries, water supply corporations, or other
private entities, if the authority project fulfills a governmental
purpose of both the authority and other political subdivisions, or
fulfills a governmental purpose of the authority that the authority
determines would be furthered by cooperative funding from a private
entity [districts].
(c) A political subdivision [district] may enter into a
contract with the authority for the political subdivision
[district] to finance a portion of the proposed project with the
political subdivision's [district's] resources instead of using
only the proceeds from bonds of the authority for that purpose. The
contract must be executed before the authority issues the bonds. As
provided in the contract, the authority may [must]:
(1) reduce the value of the bond issuance to the degree
that the political subdivision [district] provides project
funding; and
(2) credit the political subdivision [district] for
its contribution to the project financing and adjust the allocation
of revenue pledged to the payment of the bonds so that the authority
avoids using, to a degree reasonably commensurate with the
contribution, revenue from the political subdivision [district] to
service the authority's bond debt or interest.
SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Section 5.05, Chapter 1029, Acts
of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is repealed.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by Subsection (d), Section
4.10, Chapter 1029, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session,
1999, as added by this Act, applies only to a contract between the
North Harris County Regional Water Authority and a municipality
that was entered into after January 1, 2002.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1725 passed the Senate on
May 1, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that the
Senate concurred in House amendments on May 30, 2003, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1725 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 28, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 144,
Nays 0, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor