Amend CSHB 1565, beginning on page 1, line 19, by striking all
below the relating clause and substituting the following:
ARTICLE I
SECTION 1.1. Section 3, Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1945, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. In addition to the powers vested by the Constitution
and general laws in such public agency for the greatest practicable
measure of the conservation, preservation, and beneficial
utilization of its public waters, the power to control and utilize
its public waters and to regulate the disposal and the disposal of
sewage, waste, and refuse, the District shall have the following
general powers:
(a) Through every practical and legal means to
develop, transport, deliver, distribute, store, and treat water for
use within the District, including the storm and flood waters
within the District, including the power to cooperate with the
United States Government or any agency thereof, or any
municipality, public, quasi-public or private agency and to
contract, negotiate, and enter into agreements with any one or more
of such agencies in effecting such purposes;
(b) [to store, control, and conserve storm and flood
waters of its rivers and streams and to prevent the escape of any
such waters without first obtaining therefrom a maximum of public
service; to prevent devastation of property from overflow and to
protect life and property from uncontrolled flood and storm waters;
[(c)] to conserve and distribute waters essential for
domestic and other uses by the inhabitants of the District,
including necessary water supply for cities and towns situated
within the District;
(c) [(d) to provide for the development of drainage
systems to control, regulate, and dispose of all storm and flood
waters of the District so as to protect effectively lives and
property, and to utilize such waters for each and every purpose for
which flood and storm waters when controlled, conserved, or
regulated may be utilized as contemplated by the Constitution and
the public policy therein declared;
[(e)] to provide by purchase, construction, lease,
gift, or in any other manner and to operate any and all facilities
deemed by the District essential for preserving the purity of all
the surface and underground waters of the District for the
protection of the health of its inhabitants, and to formulate plans
to make and enforce rules and regulations for the effective
disposal of any and all sewage wastes, refuse, or residuum, however
accumulated; which otherwise would contaminate, pollute, or render
unsafe and insanitary the surface and underground waters of the
District and which might threaten or impair the health of its
inhabitants or which might adversely affect the health of the
inhabitants downstream below the District;
(d) [(f)] to acquire by purchase, construction,
lease, gift, or in any other manner (otherwise than by
condemnation) and to maintain, use, and operate any and all
property of any kind, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest
therein within or without the boundaries of the District deemed by
its Board of Directors necessary or convenient to the exercise of
the powers, rights, privileges, and functions conferred upon it by
this Act;
(e) [(g)] to acquire by condemnation any and all
property of any kind, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest
therein, within or outside of the boundaries of the District,
necessary to the exercise of the powers, rights, privileges, and
functions conferred by this Act, in the manner provided by General
Law relative to condemnation, or at the option of the District, in
the manner provided by law with respect to condemnation by agencies
organized pursuant to Section 59, Article 16 of the Constitution of
the State of Texas; provided that the District shall not have the
right or power to so condemn any such property that may be owned by
any other political subdivision, city, or town located within the
District;
(f) [(h)] to cooperate, contract, and enter into
agreements with towns, cities, districts, or political
subdivisions located in or outside of the District and with Bexar
County, in the construction, purchase, lease, maintenance,
improvement, use, and operation of any and all facilities, works,
and plants necessary or convenient to the accomplishment of the
purposes for which the District was created;
(g) [(i)] to make contracts with any person, private
corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision, or the
Board of Trustees thereof, operating water distribution facilities
for the benefit of a city or town within the District, under which
the District may perform services for such parties or such parties
may perform services for the District, or under which either may
operate all or any part of the facilities of the other, having due
regard for the duties and obligations of such parties in the
instrument prescribing their or its duties;
(h) [(j)] to construct, extend, improve, maintain,
and reconstruct, to cause to be constructed, extended, improved,
maintained, or reconstructed and to use and operate any and all
facilities of any kind necessary or convenient to the exercise of
the powers, rights, privileges, and functions conferred by this
Act;
(i) [(k)] to sue and be sued in its corporate name;
(j) [(l)] to make by-laws for the management and
regulation of its affairs conformably to the powers and purposes
herein conferred and consistent with the Constitution of this
State;
(k) [(m)] to make rules and regulations and to
prescribe penalties for the breach of any rule or regulation of the
District, which penalties shall not exceed fines of more than Two
Hundred Dollars ($200), or imprisonment for more than thirty (30)
days, or may provide both such fine and such imprisonment. The
penalties hereby authorized shall be in addition to any other
penalties provided by the laws of Texas and may be enforced by
complaints filed in the appropriate court of jurisdiction in the
county in which the district's principal office is located;
provided, however, that no rule or regulation which provides a
penalty for the violation thereof shall be in effect, as to
enforcement of the penalty, until five days next after the district
may have caused a substantive statement of the particular rule or
regulation and the penalty for the violation thereof to be
published, once a week for two consecutive weeks, in one or more
newspapers affording general circulation in the area in which the
property of the district is situated; and, the substantive
statement so to be published shall be as condensed as is possible to
afford an intelligent direction of the mind to the object sought to
be accomplished or the act forbidden by the rule or regulation; one
notice may embrace any number of regulations; there must be
embraced in the notice advice that breach of the particular
regulation, or regulations, will subject the violator to the
infliction of a penalty and there also shall be included in the
notice advice that the full text of the regulation sought to be
enforced is on file in the principal office of the District, where
the same may be read by any interested person. Five (5) days after
the second publication of the notice hereby required, the
advertised regulation shall be in effect, and ignorance of any such
regulation shall not constitute a defense to a prosecution for the
enforcement of a penalty; and, the rules and regulations authorized
hereby, after the required publication, shall judicially be known
to the courts and shall be considered of a nature like unto that of
valid penal ordinances of a city of the State;
(l) [(n)] to adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal;
(m) [(o)] to appoint agents and employees; prescribe
their duties and fix their compensation;
(n) [(p)] to make contracts and execute instruments
necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights,
privileges, and functions herein conferred;
(o) [(q)] to borrow money for its authorized purposes,
to accept grants or loans or allotments from the United States
Government or any of its agencies, or others, and in connection with
any such grants, loans, or allotments to enter into such agreements
as may be required to make them effective, and for the purpose of
obtaining funds to issue its negotiable tax bonds and its
negotiable revenue bonds in the manner and to the extent
hereinafter provided;
(p) [(r)] to operate and maintain with consent of the
governing body of any city, town, or political subdivision located
in the District any works, plants, or facilities deemed necessary
or convenient to the accomplishment of the purposes for which the
District is created;
(q) [(s)] to enter into planning agreements with the
Texas Water Development Board under Subchapter C, Chapter 16, Water
Code, for the purpose of conducting studies necessary to maintain
retail water supply services to customers within the boundaries of
the District; and
(r) [(t)] to cooperate with and support local fire
departments and economic development activities sponsored by local
entities within the District that use water and water resources
provided, or to be provided, by the District.
SECTION 1.2. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended by adding Section 27D to read as
follows:
Sec 27D. (a) No later than 120 days after the text of this
section becomes effective, the District shall:
(1) produce a report of an assessment of the
operations and maintenance condition of the District;
(2) produce a status report of infrastructure
improvements under construction;
(3) produce a report addressing the District's
provision of water meeting Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality ("TCEQ") pressure and quality standards.
(4) provide a report on customer service response
time.
(5) produce a report certifying any rate structure
changes approved by the District and documenting a schedule for
future changes to rate structure anticipated by the District; and
(6) deliver these reports to the Utilities and
District's section of the "TCEQ" and the legislative oversight
committee.
(b) No later than 180 days after the text of this section
becomes effective, the District shall produce an assessment of the
District's financial condition and present it to the Utilities and
District's section of the "TCEQ" and the legislative oversight
committee.
(c) No later than 240 days after the text of this section
becomes effective, the District shall:
(1) produce a report of necessary improvements to the
system and a schedule for the implementation of those improvements
to ensure all service area improvements are included in the Capital
Improvement Plan ("CIP") and all service areas have defined
Operating and Management ("O&M") projects programmed to repair or
replace existing aged infrastructure;
(2) produce a report on the sustainability and
adequacy of the water resources of the District and a plan for
obtaining additional water resources if deficiencies exist; and
(3) deliver these reports to the Utilities and
District's section of the "TCEQ" and the legislative oversight
committee.
(d) No later than one year after the text of this section
becomes effective, the District shall:
(1) produce a report on service delivery improvements
that have been completed and that are in progress;
(2) produce a report identifying all service
improvements necessary for the system and a schedule for the
completion of those improvements; and
(3) deliver these reports to the Utilities and
District's section of the "TCEQ" and the legislative oversight
committee.
SECTION 1.3. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended by adding Section 32 to read as
follows:
Sec. 32. (a) The District shall permit a customer to pay a
bill at one or more retail locations in the District.
(b) The District may not close a customer service branch
that is in operation on June 1, 2007 unless a comparable customer
service branch is opened. This subsection expires September 1,
2012.
SECTION 1.4. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended to add a new Section 27A, as
follows:
Sec. 27A. The District shall submit to the Legislative
Oversight Committee the following:
(a) a schedule for achieving the objectives set out in
Section 27D within six months of the date the text of this Section
becomes effective;
(b) evidence that the District has completed its three-year
plan of improvements as adopted by the board of directors of the
District prior to the effective date of this Act within one and one
half years from the date the text of this Section becomes effective;
(c) current year audited annual financial statements
indicating the financial condition of the district within thirty
(30) days of completion;
(d) a written projection of all rate and fee increases for
three years following the effective date of this Act within six
months of the date the text of this Section becomes effective;
(e) a report summarizing the District's efforts to
facilitate transition of service areas outside of Bexar and
Atascosa County to other qualified local water utility service
providers;
(f) any documentation or materials used in conducting a
standard managerial and financial audit; and
(g) any other information the legislative oversight
committee requests.
SECTION 1.5. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended to add a new Section 27C, as
follows:
Sec. 27C. The District shall maintain a rate structure that
promotes and encourages conservation of water and provides for
lower rates for customers using lower quantities of water.
SECTION 1.6. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended to add a new Section 27(E), as
follows:
Sec. 27E. The District shall implement an appeal and
grievance process for employees of the District.
ARTICLE II
SECTION 2.1. Chapter 306, Acts of the 49 Legislature,
Regular Session, 1945, is amended by adding Section 33A as follows:
Sec. 33A. LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. (a) In
recognition of the important goal of the state in providing safe and
efficient water supply services to the customers of the District
and the necessity for state oversight and regulation of the
District to ensure the achievement of this goal there is created the
Bexar Metropolitan Water District Legislative Oversight Committee.
(b) The legislative oversight committee shall monitor the
progress of the district in maintaining a rate structure that
conserves water, provides adequate service to low-income
customers, and assists in creating uniform rates among water
utility providers in the region; the legislative oversight
committee also shall monitor the quality of service provided by the
district; monitor the plans by the district to provide for
sustainability of water resources and plan for infrastructure
needs; identify regulatory and statutory barriers to achievement of
the district's goals, and make recommendations to the Legislature,
if necessary; and perform any other oversight function deemed
appropriate by the legislative oversight committee.
(c) The legislative oversight committee is comprised of 3
members appointed to represent the following members:
(1) the Senator sponsor of this Act, or, in the event
this Senator cannot serve, a Senator appointed by the Lieutenant
Governor;
(2) the House author of this Act, or, in the event this
Representative cannot serve, a Representative appointed by the
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives; and
(3) one member with special expertise in the operation
of public water utilities appointed by the Governor.
(d) A member of the legislative oversight committee is not
entitled to receive compensation for service on the legislative
oversight committee but is entitled to reimbursement of the travel
expenses incurred by the member while conducting the business of
the legislative oversight committee, as provided by the General
Appropriations Act.
(e) The Legislative Oversight Committee shall prepare a
comprehensive report to the House and Senate Natural Resources
Committee on its findings and recommendations concerning the
District's ability to meet service and financial standards and any
legislative changes needed in the District's authority or
governance.
(f) The District shall provide staff support for the
legislative oversight committee.
SECTION 2.2. STATE AUDIT. Subject to approval by the
Legislative Audit Committee for inclusion in the annual audit plan,
the State Auditor shall conduct a financial and managerial audit of
the District upon passage of this Act and submit the findings from
the audit in a written report to the members of the Legislative
Oversight Committee, the Board of Directors of the District, and
the Texas Legislature. The District shall cooperate and provide
assistance and access to all necessary records, confidential or
unconfidential, to the state auditor in conducting the audit
pursuant to this Section. The District shall reimburse the state
auditor for the cost of performing the audit.
SECTION 2.3. (a) The legal notice of the intention to
introduce this Act, setting forth the general substance of this
Act, has been published as provided by law, and the notice and a
copy of this Act have been furnished to all persons, agencies,
officials, or entities to which they are required to be furnished
under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313,
Government Code.
(b) The governor, one of the required recipients, has
submitted the notice and Act to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives within the required time.
(d) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
SECTION 2.4. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
act, nothing herein shall impair any Canyon Regional Water
Authority project contract, project financing obligation issued or
to be issued wherein the Bexar Metropolitan Water District is a CRWA
member entity project participant.
SECTION 2.5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
URESTI
VAN DE PUTTE
WENTWORTH
ZAFFIRINI