TO:	Honorable Jim Murphy, Chair, House Committee on Special Purpose Districts
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB4344 by Huberty ( Relating to the creation of Harris County Improvement District No. 27; providing authority to issue bonds; providing authority to impose assessments, fees, and taxes.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The Legislative Budget Board, in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has determined that:
 
The bill creates Harris County Improvement District No. 27 (the District) with the powers and duties of a standard municipal management district under Local Government Code Chapter 375.

Population - The very specific description of the proposed boundaries does not allow staff to develop precise population estimates. Based on the Original Texas Land Surveys mentioned in HB 4344, staff is unable to determine a population estimate.
     
Population growth in the specific area since the 2010 census is unknown. The 2010 population estimate for areas of Harris County served by small systems or private wells (County-Other) is 204,630. The Harris County-Other population projections approved for the 2017 State Water Plan projects the population to grow to 245,944 in 2020, 291,438 in 2030 and 311,968 in 2040.
 
Location - The Proposed district's initial boundaries are described with a combination of Original Texas Land Surveys, Harris County Real Property Records and metes and bounds. Due to the complexity of these boundaries for the various sub areas of the district, staff is able to determine only the general location of the proposed district.
 
The proposed district's area is approximately 0.09 square miles in northern Harris County, adjacent to the northern City limits of Houston along Farm to Market Road 1960 and located west of the City of Humble. The proposed district does not appear to overlap any existing Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) boundaries.
 
Comments on Powers/Duties Different from Similar Types of Districts:  The District is to be governed by a board of five voting directors appointed by the TCEQ from persons recommended by the board; the District may exercise the powers given to a development corporation; the board by resolution may authorize the creation of a nonprofit corporation to assist and act for the District in implementing a project or providing a service authorized by this chapter; the District may contract with a qualified party, including the county, to provide law enforcement services in the District for a fee; the District may join and pay dues to a charitable or nonprofit organization that performs a service or provides an activity consistent with the furtherance of a District purpose; the board by resolution may authorize the creation of a public facility corporation in the District to finance or to provide for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, renovation, repair, equipping, furnishing, or placement in service of public facilities in an orderly, planned manner and at the lowest possible borrowing costs; the District may engage in activities that accomplish the economic development purposes of the District; the District may acquire, lease as lessor or lessee, construct, develop, own, operate, and maintain parking facilities or a system of parking facilities, including lots, garages, parking terminals, or other structures or accommodations for parking motor vehicles off the streets and related appurtenances; the District may annex land as provided by Subchapter J, Chapter 49, Water Code; the District has the powers provided by Chapter 372, Local Government Code, to a municipality or county; the District has the powers provided by the general laws relating to road utility districts.
 
Overlapping Services:  TCEQ does not have mapping information for water and/or wastewater providers because this function was transferred from the TCEQ to the Public Utility Commission on September 1, 2014.  As a result, TCEQ is unaware of possible overlapping service providers.
 
TCEQ's Supervision:  As with general law districts, the TCEQ will have general supervisory authority, including bond review authority and review of financial reports.

Water Use - HB 4344 specifies that the district "may annex land as provided by Subchapter J of Chapter 49 Water Code" applicable to management districts created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
 
Within Harris County, 26 percent of the total water use was groundwater (Gulf Coast and other Aquifers) in 2014. Eighty two percent of all the groundwater pumping was for municipal use.