|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the designation of program costs for providing bill |
|
payment assistance to certain military veterans as a necessary |
|
operating expense that is a first lien against revenue of certain |
|
electric and gas utilities' revenue securing certain public |
|
securities or obligations. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. 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, 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: |
|
(1) have been threatened with disconnection from |
|
service for nonpayment of bills and who have been determined by the |
|
municipality to be low-income customers; or |
|
(2) are military veterans who have significantly |
|
decreased abilities to regulate their bodies' core temperatures |
|
because of severe burns received in combat. |
|
SECTION 2. 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, 2011. |