80R2940 SGA-D

By: Rose H.B. No. 4088

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the Plum Creek Conservation District.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, is amended by adding Sections 10A, 10B, and 10C to read as follows:

Sec. 10A. AMENDMENTS TO LAW GOVERNING DISTRICT BOUNDARIES, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, POWERS, AND TAXATION. (a) Subsections (c), (d), (i), (j), and (k) of this section are subject to ratification by the voters of the district at an election held under Section 10B of this Act.

(b) In this section and in Sections 10B and 10C of this Act:

(1) "Board" means the board of directors of the district.

(2) "Director" means a member of the board.

(3) "District" means the Plum Creek Conservation District.

(c) In addition to the portions of Caldwell and Hays Counties included in the boundaries of the district on August 31, 2007, the boundaries of the district include all the remaining territory in Caldwell County except the part that is included in the boundaries of the Edwards Aquifer Authority on that date.

(d) The district is governed by a board of seven directors elected from single-member districts as provided by Sections 10B(e) and 10C of this Act.

(e) Not later than September 10, 2007, the commissioners courts of Caldwell and Hays Counties shall appoint seven temporary directors of the district as provided by Subsections (f) and (g) of this section to serve terms that expire January 1, 2009.

(f) The Commissioners Court of Caldwell County shall appoint five temporary directors as follows:

(1) one director to represent the entire part of the county that is in the district as enlarged under Subsection (c) of this section; and

(2) four directors, with each director representing one of the four county commissioners precincts to the extent the precinct is in the district as enlarged under Subsection (c) of this section.

(g) The Commissioners Court of Hays County shall appoint two temporary directors as follows:

(1) one director to represent the part of the district that is in the city of Kyle; and

(2) one director to represent the part of the district that is in Hays County but not in the city of Kyle.

(h) A temporary director must reside in the area the director is appointed to represent.

(i) The district shall adopt rules prohibiting the export of groundwater from the district except to supply public drinking water in Blanco, Caldwell, or Hays County.

(j) The district shall adopt rules regarding remedies the district may impose to mitigate damages if a permitted well's production of groundwater exported out of the district unreasonably affects another owner's well the production of groundwater from which is not exported. The rules may address:

(1) whether a complaint must be received in writing;

(2) the criteria for determining which wells are affected for purposes of consideration of a complaint;

(3) what evidence must be provided at a hearing;

(4) whether the parties must enter into discussions or formal mediation for the purpose of resolving a complaint;

(5) whether the board should amend or revoke the permit for an offending well; and

(6) any other matter the board considers appropriate.

(k) The district may not impose an ad valorem tax for flood control purposes at a rate that exceeds $0.017 per $100 of valuation of taxable property in the district.

Sec. 10B. RATIFICATION ELECTION. (a) The temporary directors appointed under Section 10A(e) of this Act shall order an election to be held in the district as enlarged by Section 10A(c) of this Act on the uniform election date in November 2007 to ratify the following proposition:

(1) the enlargement of the district as provided by Section 10A(c) of this Act;

(2) the governance of the district by a board consisting of seven directors elected from single-member voting districts as provided by Sections 10A(d) and 10C of this Act and Subsection (e) of this section;

(3) the duty of the district to adopt rules prohibiting exports of groundwater from the district as provided by Section 10A(i) of this Act;

(4) the duty of the district to adopt rules to provide for the mitigation of damages to certain well owners as provided by Section 10A(j) of this Act; and

(5) the limitation on the rate of ad valorem taxation for flood control purposes as provided by Section 10A(k) of this Act.

(b) To take effect, the proposition described by Subsection (a) of this section must be approved by a majority of the voters voting at the election held by the district under that subsection.

(c) The ballot for the election under Subsection (a) of this section must read as follows:

"By voting YES on this ballot, you are voting in favor of all five of the following propositions with regard to the territory, directors, and powers of the Plum Creek Conservation District:

(1) the enlargement of the Plum Creek Conservation District to include that part of Caldwell County not already in the district or in the boundaries of the Edwards Aquifer Authority;

(2) the governance of the Plum Creek Conservation District by a board consisting of seven directors elected from single-member voting districts;

(3) the duty of the Plum Creek Conservation District to adopt rules prohibiting exports of groundwater from the district except to supply public drinking water in Blanco, Caldwell, or Hays County;

(4) the duty of the Plum Creek Conservation District to adopt rules to provide for the mitigation of damages to certain well owners whose groundwater production has been unreasonably affected by the export of groundwater from another well in the district; and

(5) the limitation of the Plum Creek Conservation District's rate of ad valorem taxation for flood control purposes to a rate not to exceed $0.017 per $100 of valuation of taxable property in the district.

By voting NO on this ballot, you are voting against all five of the propositions listed above."

(d) If a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition, the proposition is ratified and the boundaries of the district are enlarged as provided by Section 10A(c) of this Act. A copy of the metes and bounds description of the enlarged district must be filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and in the deed records of Caldwell and Hays Counties. The enlarged boundaries supersede the description of the boundaries contained in Section 3, Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957.

(e) If a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition, the temporary board, in conjunction with the Commissioners Court of Hays County, the Commissioners Court of Caldwell County, the secretary of state, and the United States Department of Justice, shall divide the district into seven single-member voting districts with five single-member voting districts in Caldwell County and two single-member voting districts in Hays County. The boundaries of the single-member districts must be established in time to apply to an election of directors on the uniform election date in November 2008.

(f) If a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition, the board elected under Section 10C of this Act shall adopt rules taking effect not later than June 1, 2009, that:

(1) prohibit exports of groundwater from the district as provided by Section 10A(i) of this Act; and

(2) provide for the mitigation of damages to certain well owners as provided by Section 10A(j) of this Act.

(g) If a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition, the limitation on the rate of ad valorem taxation for flood control purposes as provided by Section 10A(k) of this Act takes effect January 1, 2008.

(h) If a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition, each provision listed in Subsections (a)(1) through (5) of this section supersedes Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as that chapter existed before the effective date of the Act enacting this section, to the extent of any conflict or inconsistency.

Sec. 10C. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS. (a) This section is effective only if a majority of the voters approve the ballot proposition under Section 10B of this Act.

(b) At the general election in November 2008, the temporary directors appointed under Section 10A of this Act shall place on the ballot the name of each candidate filing for a position as a director to represent one of the single-member districts established under Section 10B(e) of this Act.

(c) The candidate who receives the largest number of votes in each of the single-member districts is elected to the board.

(d) The directors elected under Subsection (c) of this section shall draw lots to determine which:

(1) two of the directors elected from Caldwell County serve until January 1, 2011;

(2) one of the directors elected from Hays County serves until January 1, 2011;

(3) three of the directors elected from Caldwell County serve until January 1, 2013; and

(4) one of the directors elected from Hays County serves until January 1, 2013.

(e) Except for the initially elected directors, directors serve staggered terms of four years, with the terms of three or four directors expiring January 1 of each odd-numbered year.

(f) The appropriate number of directors shall be elected on the uniform date for elections in November of each even-numbered year.

(g) A director must reside in the area the director is elected to represent.

(h) The board may revise the single-member districts as necessary or appropriate. The board shall revise each single-member district after each federal decennial census to reflect population changes. When the boundaries of the single-member districts are changed, a director in office on the effective date of the change, or elected or appointed before the effective date of the change to a term of office beginning on or after the effective date of the change, is entitled to serve the term or remainder of the term in the single-member district to which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries places the person's residence outside the single-member district for which the person was elected or appointed.

SECTION 2. The terms of the members of the Plum Creek Conservation District board of directors serving on the effective date of this Act expire when a majority of the temporary directors appointed under Section 10A(e), Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as added by this Act, have qualified to serve.

SECTION 3. If the ballot proposition under Section 10B, Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as added by this Act, is not approved by a majority of the voters voting in an election held for that purpose:

(1) notwithstanding Section 10A(e), Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as added by this Act, the temporary directors appointed under that section continue to serve until the commissioners courts of Hays and Caldwell Counties appoint six directors in the manner provided by Section 4, Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957;

(2) Sections 10A(c), (d), (i), (j), and (k), Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as added by this Act, do not take effect; and

(3) Sections 10A, 10B, and 10C, Chapter 126, Acts of the 55th Legislature, Regular Session, 1957, as added by this Act, expire September 1, 2009.

SECTION 4. (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 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, 2007.