TO:	Honorable Garnet Coleman, Chair, House Committee on County Affairs
FROM:	John McGeady, Assistant Director     Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB4703 by Coleman (Relating to the creation of the Harris County Improvement District No. 28; providing authority to issue bonds; providing authority to impose assessments, fees, and taxes.), As Introduced

The Legislative Budget Board, in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has determined that:

This bill creates Harris County Improvement District No. 28 (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.
 
Population growth in the specific area since the 2010 census is unknown. The 2010 population estimate for the City of Houston Water Utility was 2,058,630 and the 2016 population estimate was 2,264,724. Population projections for the same area, adopted for the 2022 State Water Plan, projects the population to be 2,204,215 in 2020 and 2,383,505 in 2030.
 
Location - The proposed district's initial boundaries are described with a combination of Original Texas Land Surveys, Official Public Records of Real Property of Harris County, Map Records of Harris County, and metes and bounds. Due to the complexity of these boundaries for the various subareas of the district, staff is only able to determine the general location of the proposed district.
 
The proposed district's area is approximately 0.01 square miles located within the City of Houston. The proposed district appears to be southeast of the intersection of Gillette Street and Allen Parkway and west of downtown Houston.

Comments on Powers/Duties Different from Similar Types of Districts:
The bill specifies that the District will provide for water, wastewater, drainage, road, and recreational facilities for the District; the District may provide, design, construct, acquire, improve, relocate, operate, maintain, or finance an improvement project or service using money available to the District, or contract with a governmental or private entity to provide, design, construct, acquire, improve, relocate, operate, maintain, or finance an improvement project or service; the board by resolution may authorize the creation of a nonprofit corporation with the powers created under Subchapter D, Chapter 431, Transportation Code; the District may contract to provide law enforcement services in the District; 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 bill allows the District to create economic development programs and exercise economic development powers under Chapter 380, Local Government Code and Subchapter A, Chapter 1509, Government Code; the District may acquire, lease, construct, develop, own, operate, and maintain parking facilities; the bill specifies that the District may add or exclude land in the manner provided by Subchapter J, Chapter 49, Water Code, or by Subchapter H, Chapter 54, Water Code; the District may not exercise the power of eminent domain; the board may not finance a service or improvement project with assessments under this chapter unless a written petition requesting that service or improvement has been filed with the board; the District may impose an operation and maintenance tax on taxable property in the District if authorized by a majority of the District voters; Section 49.107(h), Water Code states that an operation and maintenance tax to be used for recreational facilities, as defined by Section 49.462, Water Code, levied by a district located in a county with a population of more than 3.3 million or in a county adjacent to that county may not exceed 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation of taxable property in the District, the bill specifies that this section does not apply to the District; the bill specifies that the limitation on the outstanding principal amount of bonds, notes, or other obligations provided by Section 49.4645, Water Code, does not apply to the District; Section 375.243, Local Government Code, states that the board may not call a bond election unless a written petition has been filed with the board requesting an election, the bill specifies that this section does not apply to the District; the board may not issue bonds until each municipality in whose corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction the District is located has consented by ordinance or resolution to the creation of the District and to the inclusion of land in the District; the bill specifies that except as provided by Section 375.263, Local Government Code, the City is not required to pay a bond, note, or other obligation of the District; the bill allows the board to dissolve the District on written petition filed with the board by the owners of 66 percent or more of the assessed valuation of property subject to assessment by the District or 66 percent or more of the surface area of the District, excluding roads, streets, highways, utility rights-of-way, other public areas, and other property exempt from assessment; the board may not dissolve the District if the District has any outstanding bond indebtedness until that debt has been repaid or defeased, has a contractual obligation to pay money until that obligation has been fully paid, or owns, operates, or maintains public works, facilities, or improvements unless the District contracts with another person for the ownership and operation of the public works, facilities, or improvements; Sections 375.261, 375.262, and 375.264, Local Government Code, do not apply to the District.

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 - Within the City of Houston Water Utility, 90% of the total water use was supplied by surface water, and the total municipal water use was 436,691 acre-feet reported in 2016.