BILL ANALYSIS
By: Truitt
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current law allows for the creation of special districts such as municipal utility, fresh water, and other entities in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of a municipality that will be annexed in the future. However, current law does not require the districts to install water infrastructure systems that meet the standards that are essential to urban areas. This is a threat to safety because these areas might consist of high density residential developments that would be insufficiently served by the water infrastructure. Thus, when the area is annexed, the municipality is forced to make costly upgrades to the infrastructure to bring it to the city's standards.
The purpose of H.B. 3378 is to amend the Water Code to allow municipalities to require that a water district in the municipality's ETJ must meet the fire flow requirements adopted by that municipality as a condition to granting consent to the creation or expansion of the water district.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
This bill adds a new Section 54.016(i), Water Code, to authorize a city to provide in its written consent to the inclusion of land in a district that a district water facility that serves land developed and subdivided in to lots of less that one acre must meet the fire flow requirements adopted by the city.
This bill provides that the changes in law made by this Act apply only to a political subdivision that adds land on or after the effective date of this Act. A political subdivision that adds land before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the land was added.
This bill provides an effective date clause (upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2007).
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2007.