81R23018 SMH-F
By: King of Zavala H.B. No. 3550
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers and duties of the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality and related entities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 5.1175, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 5.1175. PAYMENT OF PENALTY BY INSTALLMENT. (a) The
commission by rule may [shall] allow a person who [small business
that] owes a monetary civil or administrative penalty imposed for a
violation of law within the commission's jurisdiction or for a
violation of a license, permit, or order issued or rule adopted by
the commission to pay the penalty in periodic installments. The
rule must provide a procedure for a person [qualified small
business] to apply for permission to pay the penalty over time.
(b) [The rule must classify small businesses by their net
annual receipts and number of employees. A business that is a
wholly owned subsidiary of a corporation may not qualify as a small
business under this section.
[(c)] The rule may vary the period over which the penalty
may be paid or the amount of the periodic installments according to
the amount of the penalty owed and the size of the business that
owes the penalty. The period over which the penalty may be paid may
not exceed 36 [12] months.
SECTION 2. Section 13.043(h), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) The commission or executive director may [, on a motion
by the executive director or by the appellant under Subsection (a),
(b), or (f) of this section,] establish interim rates to be in
effect until a final decision is made in an appeal filed under
Subsection (a), (b), or (f).
SECTION 3. Sections 13.187(f), (i), (j), (k), (l), (n), and
(o), Water Code, are amended to read as follows:
(f) The regulatory authority may set the matter for hearing
on its own motion at any time within 120 days after the effective
date of the rate change. [If more than half of the ratepayers of the
utility receive service in a county with a population of more than
2.5 million, the hearing must be held at a location in that county.]
(i) The regulatory authority or the executive director,
pending final action in a rate proceeding, may order the utility to
deposit all or part of the rate increase received or to be received
into an escrow account with a financial institution approved by the
regulatory authority. Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties to
the rate proceeding, the utility shall refund or credit against
future bills all sums collected during the pendency of the rate
proceeding in excess of the rate finally ordered plus interest as
determined by the regulatory authority.
(j) For good cause shown, the regulatory authority or the
executive director may authorize the release of funds to the
utility from the escrow account during the pendency of the
proceeding.
(k) If the regulatory authority receives at least the number
of complaints from ratepayers required for the regulatory authority
to set a hearing under Subsection (e), the regulatory authority or
the executive director may, pending the hearing and a decision,
suspend the date the rate change would otherwise be effective.
Except as provided by Subsection (d-1), the proposed rate may not be
suspended for longer than:
(1) 90 days by a local regulatory authority; or
(2) 250 [150] days by the commission or executive
director.
(l) At any time during the pendency of the rate proceeding
the regulatory authority or the executive director may fix interim
rates to remain in effect until a final determination is made on the
proposed rate.
(n) For good cause shown, the regulatory authority or the
executive director may at any time during the proceeding require
the utility to refund money collected under a proposed rate before
the rate was suspended or an interim rate was established to the
extent the proposed rate exceeds the existing rate or the interim
rate.
(o) If a regulatory authority other than the commission or
the executive director establishes interim rates or an escrow
account, the regulatory authority must make a final determination
on the rates not later than the first anniversary of the effective
date of the interim rates or escrowed rates or the rates are
automatically approved as requested by the utility.
SECTION 4. Section 13.242(c), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) The commission may by rule allow a municipality or
utility or water supply corporation to render retail water or sewer
service without a certificate of public convenience and necessity
if the municipality has given notice under Section 13.255 [of this
code] that it intends to provide retail water or sewer service to an
area or if the utility or water supply corporation has less than 15
potential connections and is not within the certificated area of
another retail public utility.
SECTION 5. Section 13.248, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 13.248. CONTRACTS VALID AND ENFORCEABLE. Contracts
between retail public utilities designating areas to be served and
customers to be served by those retail public utilities, when
approved by the commission or the executive director after public
notice [and hearing], are valid and enforceable and are
incorporated into the appropriate areas of public convenience and
necessity.
SECTION 6. Section 26.0135(h), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) The commission shall apportion, assess, and recover the
reasonable costs of administering the water quality management
programs under this section [from users of water and wastewater
permit holders in the watershed according to the records of the
commission generally in proportion to their right, through permit
or contract, to use water from and discharge wastewater in the
watershed]. Irrigation water rights, non-priority hydroelectric
rights of a water right holder that owns or operates privately owned
facilities that collectively have a capacity of less than two
megawatts, and water rights held in the Texas Water Trust for terms
of at least 20 years will not be subject to this assessment. The
cost to river authorities and others to conduct water quality
monitoring and assessment shall be subject to prior review and
approval by the commission as to methods of allocation and total
amount to be recovered. The commission shall adopt rules to
supervise and implement the water quality monitoring, assessment,
and associated costs. The rules shall ensure that water users and
wastewater dischargers do not pay excessive amounts, [that program
funds are equitably apportioned among basins,] that a river
authority may recover no more than the actual costs of
administering the water quality management programs called for in
this section, and that no municipality shall be assessed cost for
any efforts that duplicate water quality management activities
described in Section 26.177. [The rules concerning the
apportionment and assessment of reasonable costs shall provide for
a recovery of not more than $5,000,000 annually. Costs recovered by
the commission are to be deposited to the credit of the water
resource management account and may be used only to accomplish the
purposes of this section. The commission may apply not more than 10
percent of the costs recovered annually toward the commission's
overhead costs for the administration of this section and the
implementation of regional water quality assessments. The
commission, with the assistance and input of each river authority,
shall file a written report accounting for the costs recovered
under this section with the governor, the lieutenant governor, and
the speaker of the house of representatives on or before December 1
of each even-numbered year.]
SECTION 7. Section 49.321, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 49.321. DISSOLUTION AUTHORITY. After notice [and
hearing], the commission or executive director may dissolve any
district that is inactive for a period of five consecutive years and
has no outstanding bonded indebtedness.
SECTION 8. Section 49.324, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 49.324. ORDER OF DISSOLUTION. The commission or the
executive director may enter an order dissolving the district [at
the conclusion of the hearing] if the commission or executive
director [it] finds that the district has performed none of the
functions for which it was created for a period of five consecutive
years [before the day of the proceeding] and that the district has
no outstanding bonded indebtedness.
SECTION 9. Section 49.326(a), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Appeals from an [a commission] order dissolving a
district shall be filed and heard in the district court of any of
the counties in which the land is located.
SECTION 10. Section 54.030(b), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The governing body of a district which desires to
convert into a district operating under this chapter shall adopt
and enter in the minutes of the governing body a resolution
declaring that in its judgment, conversion into a municipal utility
district operating under this chapter and under Article XVI,
Section 59, of the Texas Constitution, would serve the best
interest of the district and would be a benefit to the land and
property included in the district. The resolution shall also
request that the commission approve [to hold a hearing on the
question of] the conversion of the district.
SECTION 11. Section 54.032, Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 54.032. CONVERSION OF DISTRICT: NOTICE. (a) Notice
of the conversion [hearing] shall be given by publishing notice in a
newspaper with general circulation in the county or counties in
which the district is located.
(b) The notice shall be published once a week for two
consecutive weeks [with the first publication to be made not less
than 14 full days before the time set for the hearing].
(c) The notice shall:
(1) [state the time and place of the hearing;
[(2)] set out the resolution adopted by the district
in full; and
(2) [(3)] notify all interested persons how they may
offer comments [to appear and offer testimony] for or against the
proposal contained in the resolution.
SECTION 12. Section 54.033, Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 54.033. CONVERSION OF DISTRICT; FINDINGS. (a) If
[After a hearing, if] the commission or the executive director
finds that conversion of the district into one operating under this
chapter would serve the best interest of the district and would be a
benefit to the land and property included in the district, the
commission or executive director [it] shall enter an order making
this finding and the district shall become a district operating
under this chapter and no confirmation election shall be required.
(b) If the commission or the executive director finds that
the conversion of the district would not serve the best interest of
the district and would not be a benefit to the land and property
included in the district, the commission or executive director [it]
shall enter an order against conversion of the district into one
operating under this chapter.
(c) The findings of the commission or the executive director
entered under this section shall be subject to appeal or review
within 30 days after entry of the order [of the commission] granting
or denying the conversion.
(d) A copy of the [commission] order converting a district
shall be filed in the deed records of the county or counties in
which the district is located.
SECTION 13. Sections 49.322 and 54.031, Water Code, are
repealed.
SECTION 14. The changes in law made by Section 13.187, Water
Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to a rate application or
appeal filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on
or after the effective date of this Act. A rate application or
appeal filed with the commission before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 15. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.