BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4202

By: Schofield

Special Purpose Districts

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties note that Harris County Water Control Improvement District No. 157 was created by order of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to provide regional drainage and storm water detention facilities and services and recreational facilities to the land within its boundaries. It is further noted that the district includes over 3,000 acres of land and shares a boundary with Harris County Water Control Improvement District No. 159. H.B. 4202 seeks to facilitate boundary adjustments of Harris County Water Control Improvement District No. 157 along its common boundary with Harris County Water Control Improvement District No. 159. 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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. 4202 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to establish that the Harris County Water Control and Improvement District No. 157 is created to serve a public purpose and to accomplish the purposes of a water control and improvement district as provided by general law and the state constitution. The bill authorizes land within the district boundaries subject to taxation that does not need or utilize the services of the district to be excluded and authorizes other land not within the boundaries of the district to be included within the boundaries of the district without impairment of the security for payment of the bonds or invalidation of any prior bond election, as provided by the bill's provisions and certain Water Code provisions relating to adding and excluding territory of a municipal utility district. The bill authorizes such inclusion and exclusion after the district is organized and has obtained voter approval for the issuance of, or has sold, bonds payable wholly or partly from property taxes. The bill requires its provisions to be construed to supplement and not to supplant the provisions of general law applicable to the exclusion of land from the district or the inclusion of land within the district.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.