2003S0627-1 03/13/03
By: Lindsay S.B. No. 1725
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 2.02, Chapter 1029, Acts
of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is amended to read
as follows:
(d) At the first election after each time the voting
districts are redrawn[:
[(1) five new] directors shall be elected to represent
the [single-member] voting districts of the members of the board
whose terms expire next after the districts are redrawn[; and
[(2) the directors elected shall draw lots to
determine their terms so that:
[(A) two directors serve two-year terms; and
[(B) three directors serve four-year terms].
SECTION 2. Section 5.05, Chapter 1029, Acts of the 76th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5.05. FUNDING BY OTHER DISTRICTS. (a) The authority
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].
(b) Not later than the 90th day before the date the
authority issues bonds, other than refunding bonds, to finance a
project, the authority shall provide written notice of the
authority's intention to issue the bonds to each political
subdivision located entirely [district] inside [of] the
authority's boundaries that may be benefited or affected by the
project. The notice must include the value of the bonds planned to
be issued, a description of the project the bonds would finance, and
a schedule of the estimated portion of the project costs financed by
the bonds that may be allocated to each political subdivision
[district] benefited or affected. [The schedule must be prepared
by means of a formula certified by the authority's engineer.]
(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.
(d) The amount stated in the notice under Subsection (b) of
this section is the estimated portion of the project costs that may
be allocated to each political subdivision benefited or affected by
the project as of the time of the notice. The authority is not
obligated to make any refund to a political subdivision that
provides cooperative funding if the political subdivision's
estimated portion of the project costs is greater than the
political subdivision's portion of the actual costs incurred by the
authority for the project. If the political subdivision's
estimated portion of the project costs is less than the political
subdivision's portion of the actual costs incurred by the authority
for the project, the authority may recover the political
subdivision's portion of the actual costs of the project using the
same method as the authority used to recover its costs from
political subdivisions that did not participate in cooperative
funding.
(e) The authority is not required to provide the notice
required by Subsection (b) of this section with respect to a bond
issue, or to implement the procedure developed under Subsection (a)
of this section with respect to a bond issue, if the board
determines that any condition exists that renders cooperative
funding impractical, including an existing or anticipated
emergency or the intention to issue an amount of bonds that would
render cooperative funding uneconomic or that would unreasonably
increase the cost of issuance relative to the amount of the proposed
bond issue.
SECTION 3. 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.