| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to expedited release from a certificate of public |
|
|
convenience and necessity for water and sewer service for certain |
|
|
landowners. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 13.254, Water Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (a-2) and adding Subsections (a-12) and (a-13) |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(a-2) A landowner is not entitled to make the election |
|
|
described in Subsection (a-1) or (a-5) but is entitled to contest |
|
|
under Subsection (a) the involuntary certification of its property |
|
|
in a hearing held by the commission if the landowner's property is |
|
|
located: |
|
|
(1) within the boundaries of any municipality or the |
|
|
extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality with a population |
|
|
of more than 500,000 and the municipality or retail public utility |
|
|
owned by the municipality is the holder of the certificate; or |
|
|
(2) in a platted subdivision actually receiving water |
|
|
or sewer service from a certificate holder other than a rural water |
|
|
supply corporation that owes a debt to the federal government under |
|
|
7 U.S.C. Section 1926. |
|
|
(a-12) Notwithstanding Subsection (a-1), a landowner may |
|
|
petition for expedited release under that subsection and is |
|
|
entitled to that release if: |
|
|
(1) the landowner's property is located in the |
|
|
boundaries of a municipality; |
|
|
(2) the certificate holder serving the landowner's |
|
|
property is a rural water supply corporation that owes a debt to the |
|
|
federal government under 7 U.S.C. Section 1926; and |
|
|
(3) in addition to the requirements of Subsection |
|
|
(a-1), the landowner demonstrates in the landowner's petition that |
|
|
the rural water supply corporation has refused to provide or is not |
|
|
capable of providing service in the same manner that the |
|
|
municipality would be required to provide if the municipality held |
|
|
the certificate for the landowner's property. |
|
|
(a-13) A rural water supply corporation's status as a |
|
|
borrower under a federal loan program does not prohibit the release |
|
|
requested under Subsection (a-12). |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |