HB471INTRODUCED
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HB471
SLB4188-1
By Representatives Brown, Stringer
RFD: Boards, Agencies and Commissions
First Read: 20-Mar-25
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5 SLB4188-1 03/19/2025 PMG (L)PMG 2025-1343
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First Read: 20-Mar-25
SYNOPSIS:
State law sets out a process for the
incorporation of local authorities to provide water,
sewer, and fire protection services. These local
authorities are governed by a board of directors.
This bill would remove a prohibition on a state
or local officer from serving on the board of directors
of a local water, sewer, or fire protection authority.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to local water, sewer, and fire protection
authorities; to amend Section 11-88-6, Code of Alabama 1975,
to remove the prohibition on a state or local officer from
serving on the board of directors of an authority.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Section 11-88-6, Code of Alabama 1975, is
amended to read as follows:
"ยง11-88-6
(a) Each authority shall be governed by a board of
directors. All powers of the authority shall be exercised by
the board or pursuant to its authorization.
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the board or pursuant to its authorization.
(b)(1) The board shall consist initially of three
directors, elected, as soon as may be practicable , after the
organization of the authority, by the governing body of the
determining county for staggered terms as follows:
a. The first term of one director shall begin
immediately upon the director's election and shall end at noon
on March 1 of the next succeeding odd-numbered calendar year
following the election ;.
b. The the first term of another director shall begin
immediately upon his or her election and shall end at noon on
March 1 of the second succeeding odd-numbered calendar year
following the election ; and.
c. The the first term of the remaining director shall
begin immediately upon his or her election and shall end at
noon on March 1 of the third succeeding odd-numbered calendar
year following the election.
(2) Thereafter, the term of office of each director
shall be six years.
(c)(1) If any amendment to the certificate of
incorporation of the an authority, effected pursuant to the
provisions of Section 11-88-5, shall increase increases the
membership of the board, the board shall thereafter consist of
such that number of directors, elected appointed by such the
respective governing bodies, as may be body, as specified in
the amendment. The terms of office of any new directors added
by any such amendment shall be so arranged that, taking into
consideration the terms of office of the original three
directors, the terms of office of approximately one-third of
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directors, the terms of office of approximately one-third of
all directors,(or as nearly one-third thereof as may be
practicable), will end at noon on March 1 in each odd-numbered
year following the effective date of the amendment.
(2)The term of office of each new director, added by
amendment as aforesaid, shall following After the initial term
of such a new director, the term of office shall be for a
period of six years.
(3) If at any time there should be is a vacancy on the
board, a successor director to serve for the unexpired term
applicable to such the vacancy shall be elected appointed by
that governing body which that elected the director whose
unexpired term he or she is to fill.
(4) Each election appointment of a director, whether
for a full six-year term or to complete an unexpired term,
shall be made not earlier than 30 days prior to the date on
which suchthe director is to take office as such. No officer
of the state or of any county or municipality shall, during
his or her tenure as such officer, be eligible to serve as a
director.
(d) Each director elected appointed by a county
governing body shall be a duly qualified elector of that
county and shall be a resident of and the owner of real
property in that part of the service area of the authority
which lies within that county. Directors shall be eligible for
reelection.
(e) Each director shall be reimbursed for expenses
actually incurred by the director in and about the performance
of the director's duties. If the certificate of incorporation
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of the director's duties. If the certificate of incorporation
so provides, each director except the chairman chair of the
board shall be compensated in an additional amount not to
exceed four hundred dollars ($400) per meeting attended but
not to exceed four thousand eight hundred dollars ($4,800) per
year. The chairman shallchair, if the certificate so provides,
shall be compensated in an additional amount not to exceed six
hundred dollars ($600) per meeting attended but not to exceed
seven thousand two hundred dollars ($7,200) per year.
(e)(f) Any director of the authority may be impeached
and removed from office in the same manner and on the same
grounds provided by Section 175 of the Constitution of Alabama
of 2022, and the general laws of the state for impeachment and
removal of the officers mentioned in Section 175.
(f)(g)(1) If the service area, or the greater part
thereof, in which an authority is authorized by its
certificate of incorporation or any amendment thereto to
render water service, fire protection service, sewer service,
or any one or more thereof, includes a resort area pursuant to
Article 2 of this chapter and the service area is incorporated
or annexed into a municipality subsequent to the creation of
an authority, and if the municipality has assumed and taken
over the fire protection responsibility and the sewer service
originally placed upon the authority, the board of directors
of the authority shall be increased in membership by a
sufficient number of new members to increase membership on the
board of directors to a maximum of seven members. Each of the
new members to the board of directors shall be appointed by
the governing body of the municipality by ordinance duly
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the governing body of the municipality by ordinance duly
adopted.
(2) The first term of each new member so appointed
shall be staggered for terms of one, two, three, and four
years, as needed. Thereafter, the term of the new members
added pursuant to this subsection shall be six years. The
governing body of the determining county shall continue to
make appointments and fill vacancies as heretofore authorized.
After May 18, 1993, the governing body of the municipality
shall make appointments and fill vacancies as provided in this
subsection.
(3) All members of the board of directors of the
authority shall have all the authority, privileges,
immunities, and qualifications as provided in this article.
(g)(h) Nothing in this section as amended by Act
2010-580 shall apply to the City of Prichard Water and Sewer
Board."
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2025.
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