BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 890 |
By: Workman |
Special Purpose Districts |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The West Travis County Public Utility Agency, consisting of certain Central Texas entities, was created to purchase certain water and wastewater systems sold by the Lower Colorado River Authority and to keep these water and wastewater systems under public ownership. Interested parties contend that the area would benefit from the conversion of the agency into a conservation and reclamation district. C.S.H.B. 890 seeks to address this issue.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 890 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to convert the West Travis County Public Utility Agency to a conservation and reclamation district located in Hays and Travis Counties, to be known as the Hill Country Regional Water Authority, in order to provide certain improvements, projects, and services for public use and benefit. The bill confers on the authority, in addition to the general powers and duties provided by law to a special water authority, with certain exceptions and subject to certain requirements or restrictions, the authorization to provide water supply and wastewater services; adopt and enforce policies, rules, and bylaws; extend service to new customers inside or outside the authority's boundaries; acquire, construct, maintain, and operate certain systems; implement water conservation or drought contingency plans; enter a contract, including an interlocal contract, or execute an instrument; accept conveyance of a member entity's utility system facility or asset or interest in such system or asset; impose fees and administrative penalties; and issue revenue bonds or notes. The bill prohibits the authority from imposing property taxes or a special assessment.
C.S.H.B. 890 provides for the authority's governance by a five-member board of directors serving staggered four-year terms and specifies the appointment of specific individuals to the initial board of directors. The bill establishes age and residency requirements for eligibility to serve as a board member and sets out the manner of appointments to and the filling of vacancies on the board by member entities. The bill authorizes service on the authority's board of directors by an employee, officer, or board member of a governing body of a public entity and includes conflict of interest provisions for such a board member who has a personal interest in a contract executed by the authority. The bill specifies that a board member serves without compensation but authorizes reimbursements for travel and other expenses under certain conditions. The bill establishes that a majority of the board membership constitutes a quorum for any meeting and that a concurrence of such a quorum is sufficient for transacting any authority business. The bill provides for the election of board officers; for the removal of a board member from office at any time, with or without cause, by the appointing authority; and for the appointment of ex officio board members.
C.S.H.B. 890, on the bill's effective date, requires the Hill Country Regional Water Authority to assume all assets, liabilities, and obligations of the West Travis County Public Utility Agency; establishes that all contracts and written agreements of the West Travis County Public Utility Agency are assigned to and assumed by the Hill Country Regional Water Authority; and establishes that the Utilities Installment Purchase Agreement entered January 17, 2012, between the Lower Colorado River Authority and the West Travis County Public Utility Agency, as amended, is assigned to and assumed by the Hill Country Regional Water Authority and is valid and enforceable by its terms. The bill establishes that governmental immunity from liability or suit is waived for the parties to enforce the Utilities Installment Purchase Agreement to the extent provided by statutory provisions relating to the adjudication of claims arising under written contracts with local government entities.
C.S.H.B. 890 establishes that any eminent domain powers granted by general law that apply to the Hill Country Regional Water Authority, as created by the bill, take effect only if the bill receives a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house and prohibits the district, by statute, from exercising the power of eminent domain if the bill does not receive such a two-thirds vote.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 890 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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