BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2105

By: Shine

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 is a wholesale water entity that sells water to its region. It has been suggested, however, that its board of directors could be more representative of the area served by the district. C.S.H.B. 2105 seeks to expand the geographical diversity of the district's board of directors.

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

C.S.H.B. 2105 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to establish that the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 is governed by a board of seven elected directors and that, in addition to the elected board members, a nonvoting member chosen by the Fort Hood Military Reservation represents the interests of the reservation. The bill requires the district to hold an election to elect the appropriate number of directors on the uniform election date in November of each even-numbered year. The bill requires the board to divide the district into seven single-member director precincts that comply with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and sets out provisions relating to such division and the redrawing of the precincts. The bill requires the district to hold the first election to elect directors under these provisions on the uniform election date in November 2020 and sets out related transition provisions.

C.S.H.B. 2105 adds, effective September 1, 2019, the following areas to the territory of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 as those areas are legally described on that date:

· the territory inside the corporate boundaries of the City of Harker Heights, the City of Copperas Cove, the City of Belton, and the City of Killeen;

· the service area of the 439 Water Supply Corporation;

· the territory of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 3; and

· the Bell County portion of the Fort Hood Military Reservation.

The bill makes related changes to provisions relating to the annexation of territory to the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1.

C.S.H.B. 2105 limits, in the territory of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 that coincides with the territory of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 3, the powers of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 to the powers necessary to provide wholesale water service.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2105 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a provision establishing that, in addition to the elected board members of the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, a nonvoting member chosen by the Fort Hood Military Reservation represents the interests of the reservation.

The substitute does not include provisions:

· making Water Code provisions relating to the disqualification of a director of certain water districts inapplicable to a director of the district;

· providing for the disqualification and removal of a director of the district under certain conditions and the subsequent replacement of the director; and

· making a person who wilfully occupies an office as a member of the board and exercises the powers and duties of that office when disqualified guilty of a misdemeanor.