| |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * |