BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4780

By: Heflin

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Santa Rita Underground Water Conservation District was created by the 71st Legislature, Regular Session, 1989, to protect and conserve the groundwater resources within most of the territory in Reagan County. 

H.B. 4780 changes the district's method of electing directors to the single-member district method by requiring that a director be a resident of the district, providing that certain provisions do not apply to the district, and removing the residency requirement that a director elected from a county commissioners precinct be a resident of that precinct.  The bill changes the election date for the directors of the district from the first Saturday in May to the uniform election date in May of each odd-numbered year.

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

H.B. 4780 amends Chapter 653, Acts of the 71st Legislature, Regular Session, 1989, to require a director of the Santa Rita Underground Water Conservation District to be a resident of the district.  The bill makes a provision relating to residency requirements for a candidate for public office, a provision governing the election method for directors, a provision requiring a director to be a registered voter in the precinct the person represents, and provisions relating to inclusion of municipal corporations in precincts inapplicable to the district.  The bill requires an election to be held in the district for the election of the appropriate number of directors on the uniform election date in May of each odd-numbered year, rather than the first Saturday in May of the second year after the year in which the district is authorized to be created at a confirmation election.  The bill removes language requiring directors elected from district precincts 2 and 4 to serve two-year terms and directors from precincts 1 and 3 and the district at large to serve four-year terms.  The bill removes language requiring the appropriate number of directors to be elected to the board on the same date in each subsequent second year.

H.B. 4780 repeals Section 10(c), Chapter 653, Acts of the 71st Legislature, Regular Session, 1989, requiring a person elected from a commissioner precinct to be a resident of that precinct.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.