Amend CSHB 2207 by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumbering the remaining SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  (a)  Subsection (a), Section 1502.056, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a)  If the revenue of a utility system, park, or swimming pool secures the payment of public securities issued or obligations incurred under this chapter, each expense of operation and maintenance, including all salaries, labor, materials, interest, repairs and extensions necessary to provide efficient service, and each proper item of expense, is a first lien against that revenue.  For a municipality with a population of more than one million but less than two million, the first lien against the revenue of a municipally owned [electric or gas] utility system that secures the payment of public securities issued or obligations incurred under this chapter also applies to funding, as a necessary operations expense, for a bill payment assistance program for utility system customers who have been threatened with disconnection from service for nonpayment of bills and who have been determined by the municipality to be low-income customers.

(b)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, this section takes effect immediately if this Act 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 section takes effect September 1, 2011.