Amend HB 951 (House engrossment) as follows:
(1) Insert the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS
and renumber SECTIONS of the bill appropriately:
SECTION __. Subsection (a), Section 117.101, Natural
Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, this
[This] chapter may not be construed to reduce, limit, or impair the
authority provided by law to any city.
SECTION __. Subchapter D, Chapter 117, Natural Resources
Code, is amended by adding Section 117.102 to read as follows:
Sec. 117.102. AUTHORITY OF CITY TO ASSESS CHARGES.
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a city may not
assess a charge for the placement, construction, maintenance,
repair, replacement, operation, use, relocation, or removal of a
hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline facility on, along, or
across a public road, highway, street, alley, stream, canal, or
other public way.
(b) A city may:
(1) assess a reasonable annual charge for the
placement, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement,
operation, use, relocation, or removal by an owner or operator of a
hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline facility on, along, or
across the public roads, highways, streets, alleys, streams,
canals, or other public ways located within the city and maintained
by the city; and
(2) recover the reasonable cost of repairing damage to
a public road, highway, street, alley, stream, canal, or other
public way located within the city and maintained by the city that
is caused by the placement, construction, maintenance, repair,
replacement, operation, use, relocation, or removal of a hazardous
liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline facility if the owner or operator
of the facility does not repair the damage in accordance with
generally applicable paving standards or other applicable
standards in the city.
(c) A charge authorized by Subsection (b)(1) may not exceed
the cost to the city of administering, supervising, inspecting, and
otherwise regulating the location of the pipeline facility,
including maintaining records and maps of the location of the
pipeline facility.
(d) The owner or operator of a pipeline facility may appeal
the assessment of a charge under Subsection (b)(1) to the
commission. The commission shall hear the appeal de novo. Unless
the city that assessed the charge establishes that the charge is
authorized by this section, the commission shall declare the charge
invalid or reduce the charge to an amount authorized by this
section. The commission has exclusive jurisdiction to determine
whether a charge under Subsection (b)(1) is authorized by this
section. The owner or operator of the pipeline facility and the
city shall share equally the costs incurred by the commission in
connection with the appeal.
(e) A city must file suit to collect a charge authorized by
Subsection (b)(1) not later than the fourth anniversary of the date
the charge becomes due. The running of the limitations period under
this subsection is tolled on the filing of an appeal of the charge
under Subsection (d) and begins running again on the date the appeal
is determined.
(f) This section may not be construed to prevent a city
from:
(1) recovering the reasonable cost of repairing damage
to a city facility, other than a public way, caused by acts of the
owner or operator of a pipeline facility; or
(2) requiring the owner or operator of a pipeline
facility to relocate the pipeline facility, at the owner's or
operator's expense, to permit the construction, maintenance,
modification, or alteration of a city facility.
(g) Notwithstanding Subsection (f)(2), the city shall pay
the cost of relocating a pipeline facility if the pipeline facility
is authorized by a property right that has priority over the city's
right to use the public way for the city facility.
SECTION __. Subsection (b), Section 121.202, Utilities
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (a) and by Section
121.2025, this subchapter does not reduce, limit, or impair:
(1) a power vested by law in:
(A) a county in relation to a county road; or
(B) a municipality; or
(2) the ability of a municipality to:
(A) adopt an ordinance that establishes
conditions for mapping, inventorying, locating [installing], or
relocating pipelines over, under, along, or across a public street
or alley or private residential area in the boundaries of the
municipality; or
(B) establish conditions for mapping or taking an
inventory in an area in a municipality's extraterritorial
jurisdiction.
SECTION __. Subchapter E, Chapter 121, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 121.2025 to read as follows:
Sec. 121.2025. AUTHORITY OF MUNICIPALITY TO ASSESS CHARGES.
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section or Section
182.025, Tax Code, a municipality may not assess a charge for the
placement, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement,
operation, use, relocation, or removal of a gas pipeline facility
on, along, or across a public road, highway, street, alley, stream,
canal, or other public way.
(b) A municipality may:
(1) assess a reasonable annual charge for the
placement, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement,
operation, use, relocation, or removal by an owner or operator of a
gas pipeline facility on, along, or across the public roads,
highways, streets, alleys, streams, canals, or other public ways
located within the municipality and maintained by the municipality;
and
(2) recover the reasonable cost of repairing damage to
a public road, highway, street, alley, stream, canal, or other
public way located within the municipality and maintained by the
municipality that is caused by the placement, construction,
maintenance, repair, replacement, operation, use, relocation, or
removal of a gas pipeline facility if the owner or operator of the
facility does not repair the damage in accordance with generally
applicable paving standards or other applicable standards in the
municipality.
(c) A charge authorized by Subsection (b)(1) may not exceed
the cost to the municipality of administering, supervising,
inspecting, and otherwise regulating the location of the gas
pipeline facility, including maintaining records and maps of the
location of the pipeline facility.
(d) The owner or operator of a gas pipeline facility may
appeal the assessment of a charge under Subsection (b)(1) to the
railroad commission. The railroad commission shall hear the appeal
de novo. Unless the municipality that assessed the charge
establishes that the charge is authorized by this section, the
railroad commission shall declare the charge invalid or reduce the
charge to an amount authorized by this section. The railroad
commission has exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether a charge
under Subsection (b)(1) is authorized by this section. The owner or
operator of the gas pipeline facility and the municipality shall
share equally the costs incurred by the railroad commission in
connection with the appeal.
(e) A municipality must file suit to collect a charge
authorized by Subsection (b)(1) not later than the fourth
anniversary of the date the charge becomes due. The running of the
limitations period under this subsection is tolled on the filing of
an appeal of the charge under Subsection (d) and begins running
again on the date the appeal is determined.
(f) This section may not be construed to prevent a
municipality from:
(1) recovering the reasonable cost of repairing damage
to a municipal facility, other than a public way, caused by acts of
the owner or operator of a gas pipeline facility; or
(2) requiring the owner or operator of a gas pipeline
facility to relocate the pipeline facility, at the owner's or
operator's expense, to permit the construction, maintenance,
modification, or alteration of a municipal facility.
(g) Notwithstanding Subsection (f)(2), the municipality
shall pay the cost of relocating a gas pipeline facility if the
pipeline facility is authorized by a property right that has
priority over the municipality's right to use the public way for the
municipal facility.
(2) Strike SECTION 5 of the bill (page 4, line 24, through
page 5, line 1) and substitute the following:
SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by this section, the
change in law made by this Act applies only to conduct that occurs
on or after the effective date of this Act. Conduct that occurs
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect immediately before that date, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
(b) Section 117.102, Natural Resources Code, and Section
121.2025, Utilities Code, as added by this Act, do not affect:
(1) the validity or enforceability of a contract
entered into before the effective date of this Act by a municipality
and the owner or operator of a hazardous liquid, carbon dioxide, or
gas pipeline; or
(2) the enforceability of a charge assessed by a
municipality before September 1, 2006, under an ordinance adopted
on or before September 1, 2004.
(c) Section 117.102, Natural Resources Code, and Section
121.2025, Utilities Code, as added by this Act, apply to a charge
assessed by a municipality on or after:
(1) the effective date of this Act under an ordinance
adopted after September 1, 2004; and
(2) September 1, 2006, under an ordinance regardless
of the date of adoption of the ordinance.