By: Hall S.B. No. 2192
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the notice and petition for the creation of a municipal
  utility district in certain counties.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 54.001(4) and (5), Water Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
               (4)  "Commission" means the Texas [Natural Resource
  Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality.
               (5)  "Executive director" means the executive director
  of the commission [Texas Natural Resource Conservation
  Commission].
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Water Code, is amended
  by adding Section 54.0135 to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.0135.  PRE-PETITION NOTICE TO CERTAIN COUNTIES.  (a)  
  This section applies only to a proposed district described by
  Section 54.0161(a).
         (b)  Before a petition requesting creation of a proposed
  district is filed with the commission under Section 54.014, notice
  must be sent by certified mail to the commissioners court of each
  county in which the proposed district is to be located.  The notice
  must:
               (1)  describe the boundaries of the proposed district
  by metes and bounds or by lot and block number if there is a recorded
  map or plat and survey of the area to be included in the district;
  and
               (2)  inform the commissioners court of the right to:
                     (A)  respond to the notice provided under this
  section;
                     (B)  review the petition requesting creation of
  the proposed district; and
                     (C)  submit a written opinion on the creation of
  the proposed district under Section 54.0161.
         (c)  Notice under this section must be sent by certified mail
  at least 90 days before the date a petition requesting creation of
  the proposed district is filed with the commission under Section
  54.014.
         (d)  A commissioners court may respond to a notice required
  under this section.  If a commissioners court does not respond to
  the notice by the date a petition requesting creation of the
  proposed district is filed with the commission under Section
  54.014, there is a rebuttable presumption that the commissioners
  court supports the creation of the district.
         SECTION 3.  Section 54.015, Water Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 54.015.  CONTENTS OF PETITION. The petition shall:
               (1)  describe the boundaries of the proposed district
  by metes and bounds or by lot and block number, if there is a
  recorded map or plat and survey of the area;
               (2)  state the general nature of the work proposed to be
  done, the necessity for the work, and the cost of the project as
  then estimated by those filing the petition; [and]
               (3)  include a name of the district which shall be
  generally descriptive of the locale of the district followed by the
  words Municipal Utility District, or if a district is located
  within one county, it may be designated "__________ County
  Municipal Utility District No. ______." (Insert the name of the
  county and proper consecutive number.) The proposed district shall
  not have the same name as any other district in the same county; and
               (4)  for a district described by Section 54.0161,
  include a copy of:
                     (A)  the notice described by Section 54.0135; and
                     (B)  any response to the notice provided by the
  commissioners court.
         SECTION 4.  Section 54.0135, Water Code, as added by this
  Act, and Section 54.015, Water Code, as amended by this Act, apply
  only to the creation of a municipal utility district on or after the
  effective date of this Act.  A petition requesting creation of a
  municipal utility district pending before the Texas Commission on
  Environmental Quality on the effective date of this Act is governed
  by the law in effect on the date the petition was filed, and the
  former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2023.