2009S0649-1 03/10/09
By: Hegar S.B. No. 1846
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to powers and duties of the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality, including penalty payment plans, the Concho
River Watermaster Program, utility and district applications, and
the recovery of costs associated with the Texas Clean Rivers
Program.
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 shall allow an entity who [a 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 an entity [a 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. Subsection (h), Section 13.043, 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. Subsections (f), (i), (j), (k), (l), (n), and
(o), Section 13.187, 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, if the regulatory
authority is the commission, 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, if
the regulatory authority is the commission, 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,
if the regulatory agency is the commission, 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, if the regulatory authority is the
commission, 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, if
the regulatory authority is the commission, 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. Subsection (c), Section 13.242, 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. Subsection (h), Section 26.0135, 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 mor e 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 the 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. Subsection (b), Section 54.030, 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 or the executive director approve [to
hold a hearing on the question of] the conversion of the district.
SECTION 10. Sections 54.032 and 54.033, 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.
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
commissioner 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 commissioner 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 11. The changes in law made by Section 3 of this Act
apply only to rate applications and appeals filed with the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective date
of this Act. Such rate applications made or appeals filed with the
commission before the effective date of this Act are governed by the
law in effect on the date the application was made or the appeal was
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for those purposes.
SECTION 12. Sections 11.559, 49.322, and 54.031, Water
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.