BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3814

By: Rodriguez, Eddie

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law provides for the creation of conservation and reclamation districts which, subject to certain approval, are allowed to incur debt to provide permanent improvements and to levy taxes for the maintenance and operation of improvements and the repayment of debt. H.B. 3814 seeks to amend provisions regarding the Travis-Creedmoor Municipal Utility District in Travis County, Texas, to establish provisions relating to certain district financial powers and duties in order to counter the negative tax consequences of the district having few commercial taxpayers.

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. 3814 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to make a provision of law authorizing a city to provide in its written consent for the inclusion of land in a municipal utility district that a contract between the district and the city be entered into prior to the first issue of bonds, notes, warrants, or other obligations of the district inapplicable to the Travis-Creedmoor Municipal Utility District.

H.B. 3814 authorizes bonds of the Travis-Creedmoor Municipal Utility District to be sold at a public or private sale according to terms and procedures the district's board of directors determines.  The bill authorizes the board, in connection with the issuance of bonds, to prescribe the maximum principal amount of bonds to be issued and the rate of interest the bonds may bear in accordance with a Government Code provision relating to a maximum interest rate for public securities, to recite the public purpose for which one or more series of bonds are issued, to delegate to an officer or employee of the district the authority to effect the sale of one or more series of bonds, and to determine the period, not to exceed one year after the date the district adopts the order or resolution delegating such authority, during which that authority must be exercised.

H.B. 3814 authorizes an officer or employee, in exercising the authority delegated by the board, to establish the terms and details related to the issuance and sale of the bonds, including the form and designation of the bonds; the principal amount of the bonds and the amount of the bonds to mature in each year; the dates, price, interest rates, interest payment dates, principal payment dates, and redemption features of the bonds; and any other details relating to the issuance and sale of the bonds as specified by the board in the proceedings authorizing the issuance of the bonds.  The bill establishes that a finding or determination made by an officer or employee acting under the delegated authority has the same force and effect as a finding or determination made by the board.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.