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By: Smith of Harris (Senate Sponsor - Ellis) H.B. No. 2267
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 2005;
April 26, 2005, read first time and referred to Committee on Business
and Commerce; May 20, 2005, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0;
May 20, 2005, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2267 By: Fraser
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers of the Coastal Water Authority; providing
the authority to impose a tax; affecting the authority to issue
bonds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. The Authority shall have and exercise and is hereby
vested with all of the rights, powers and privileges, authorities
and functions conferred and imposed by the general laws of this
state now in force or hereafter enacted applicable to water control
and improvement districts and municipal utility districts created
under authority of Section 59 of Article XVI, Constitution of
Texas, but to the extent that the provisions of such general laws
may be in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act,
the provisions of this Act shall prevail. All such general laws are
hereby adopted and incorporated by reference with the same effect
as if incorporated in full in this Act. Without in any way limiting
the generalization of the foregoing, it is expressly provided that
the Authority shall have and exercise, and is hereby vested with,
all of the rights, powers and privileges, authorities and functions
conferred by Chapters 51 and 54, Title 4, Water Code, together with
all amendments thereof and additions thereto. The Authority shall
have the power to make, construct, or otherwise acquire
improvements either within or without the boundaries thereof
necessary to carry out the powers and authority granted by this Act
and said general laws. Not by way of limitation, the Authority
shall be authorized and empowered to conserve, store, transport,
treat and purify, distribute, sell and deliver water, whether
[both] surface, [and] underground, desalinated, or reclaimed, to
persons, corporations, both public and private, political
subdivisions of the state and others, and may purchase, construct
or lease all property, works and facilities, both within and
without the Authority, necessary for such purposes. The Authority
is expressly authorized to acquire water supplies from sources both
within and without the boundaries of the Authority and to sell,
transport and deliver water to customers situated within and
without the Authority and to acquire all properties and facilities
necessary for such purposes, and for any and all of such purposes
may enter into contracts with persons, with municipal, public and
private corporations, including the City of Houston, and any
political subdivision of the state for such periods of time, not
exceeding forty (40) years, and on such terms and conditions as its
Board of Directors may deem desirable, fair and advantageous and to
which the parties may agree; provided, that such contracts may
provide that they shall continue in effect until bonds issued by the
Authority to finance the cost of the Authority's improvements,
[water system] facilities, and other properties, and refunding
bonds issued in lieu thereof, are paid. In addition, the Authority
shall have the power to contract with others to transport their
water and the power to act jointly with others in the performance of
all functions and purposes of the Authority. Provided that the
Authority has no existing contractual obligation to any person,
corporation or political subdivision to use a particular canal,
lateral or ditch to transport or deliver water, the Authority is
expressly authorized to abandon, sell, release or deconstruct that
canal, ditch or lateral if any of the following conditions apply:
(i) the Authority has not used the canal, ditch or lateral to
transport or deliver water to persons, corporations or political
subdivisions of the state for a period of five (5) years; (ii)
there are intervening gaps between the canal, ditch or lateral the
Authority wishes to abandon, sell, release or deconstruct and the
Authority's primary canal serving that canal, lateral or ditch; or
(iii) an adjoining landowner has requested in writing that the
Authority abandon, sell, release or deconstruct the canal, ditch or
lateral and no other adjoining landowner has objected within thirty
(30) days after receiving notice from the Authority of its intent to
abandon, sell, release or deconstruct the canal, ditch or lateral.
Nothing herein contained shall preclude the Authority from
acquiring water rights under any law or permits heretofore or
hereafter issued, provided acquisition of the same is approved by
order or subsequent permit from the Texas [Natural Resource
Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality. The Authority
must secure the approval of the mayor and the city council of the
City of Houston, Texas, before the Authority acquires any water
rights.
SECTION 2. Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1967, is amended by adding Sections 3A, 3B, 3C, and
3D to read as follows:
Sec. 3A. The Authority may develop and generate electric
energy for use by the Authority or the City of Houston by wind
turbines or hydroelectric facilities.
Sec. 3B. (a) The Authority is a local government for
purposes of Chapter 431, Transportation Code.
(b) The Authority may create a nonprofit corporation in the
manner provided by Chapter 431, Transportation Code, to aid and act
on behalf of the Authority in implementing an Authority project. A
corporation created under this section has all the powers of and
receives the same tax exemptions as a local government corporation
created and operating under Chapter 431, Transportation Code.
(c) A corporation created under this section is governed in
the same manner as a local government corporation created by a
municipality or county, except that the board of the Authority
shall appoint the board of the corporation. The board of the
corporation serves at the will of the board of the Authority.
(d) The Authority has complete governmental and supervisory
control of a corporation created under this section.
(e) A local government corporation created by the Authority
may not exercise the powers of a municipality or county and may only
become involved in projects which the Authority can perform. A
local government corporation created by the Authority may not levy
ad valorem taxes or acquire, construct or operate parks or
recreational facilities.
Sec. 3C. If the Authority secures a bed and banks permit
from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Authority
may use the bed and banks of the navigable and nonnavigable bayous,
rivers, and streams of this state to transport and convey water.
The Authority may construct and install improvements and facilities
in the bayous, rivers, and streams if:
(1) the construction does not interfere with rights of
private property owners; and
(2) the Authority receives any required state or
federal permits.
Sec. 3D. The Authority may issue unrated bond anticipation
notes to finance the cost of an Authority project without obtaining
ratings for the notes. The notes are obligations as defined by
Section 1371.001, Government Code, and may be issued and secured as
provided by Chapter 1371, Government Code.
SECTION 3. Section 4, Chapter 601, Acts of the 60th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended by amending
Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (d) of this section,
the [The] Authority shall have no power or authority to levy and
collect taxes on any property, real, personal or mixed, nor shall
the Authority have power and authority to issue bonds or create
indebtedness which would in any way be payable from ad valorem taxes
levied upon property within the Authority. The Authority shall
have no power or authority to limit, regulate or control the
pumping, withdrawal or use of subsurface ground water by any
person, firm or corporation, nor shall the Authority be authorized
to construct, acquire, own or operate facilities for the navigation
of public waters except as the Authority may be a lessor of such
facilities.
The enactment of this law shall not have the effect of
preventing the organization of conservation districts or of
preventing boundary changes of such districts within the boundaries
of the Authority as authorized in Article XVI, Section 59 and
Article III, Section 52 of the Constitution of Texas.
(d) The Authority may incur indebtedness as provided in
Article III, Section 52, Texas Constitution, for the purpose of
improvement of rivers, creeks and streams to prevent overflows or
in aid of such purpose. Any ad valorem taxes or bonds or other
indebtedness for this purpose must be approved by two-thirds
majority of the voting qualified voters of the Authority.
SECTION 4. (a) All acts and proceedings of the Coastal
Water Authority or the board of directors of the Coastal Water
Authority taken before the effective date of this Act are validated
and confirmed in all respects as if the actions had been done as
authorized by law.
(b) A governmental act or proceeding of the authority
occurring after an act or proceeding validated by this Act may not
be held invalid on the ground that the prior act or proceeding, in
the absence of this Act, was invalid.
(c) This section does not apply to any matter that on the
effective date of this Act:
(1) is involved in litigation if the litigation
ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final
judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
(2) has been held invalid by a final judgment of a
court of competent jurisdiction.
SECTION 5. 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, 2005.
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