81R9512 SLB-F
By: Miller of Comal H.B. No. 3609
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a requirement to provide sufficient water pressure for
fire suppression in certain special utility districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 13.254(a), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The commission at any time after notice and hearing may,
on its own motion or on receipt of a petition described by
Subsection (a-1), revoke or amend any certificate of public
convenience and necessity with the written consent of the
certificate holder or if it finds that:
(1) the certificate holder has never provided, is no
longer providing, is incapable of providing, or has failed to
provide continuous and adequate service in the area, or part of the
area, covered by the certificate;
(2) in an affected county as defined in Section
16.341, the cost of providing service by the certificate holder is
so prohibitively expensive as to constitute denial of service,
provided that, for commercial developments or for residential
developments started after September 1, 1997, in an affected county
as defined in Section 16.341, the fact that the cost of obtaining
service from the currently certificated retail public utility makes
the development economically unfeasible does not render such cost
prohibitively expensive in the absence of other relevant factors;
(3) the certificate holder has agreed in writing to
allow another retail public utility to provide service within its
service area, except for an interim period, without amending its
certificate; [or]
(4) the certificate holder has failed to file a cease
and desist action pursuant to Section 13.252 within 180 days of the
date that it became aware that another retail public utility was
providing service within its service area, unless the certificate
holder demonstrates good cause for its failure to file such action
within the 180 days; or
(5) the certificate holder has failed to comply with
Section 65.301.
SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 65, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 65.301 to read as follows:
Sec. 65.301. WATER PRESSURE ADEQUATE FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION.
(a) This section applies only to a district whose territory
includes land in the corporate limits or extraterritorial
jurisdiction of a municipality with a population of more than
10,000.
(b) A district shall maintain and make available for fire
suppression a system that, when tested according to procedures
prescribed by commission rules, is capable of producing at least
250 gallons per minute.
(c) The commission shall revoke a district's certificate of
convenience and necessity under Section 13.254(a) on finding that
the district is in violation of this section.
SECTION 3. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
shall adopt rules as necessary to implement and enforce Section
65.301, Water Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.