By: Lucio S.B. No. 2284
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of grants by the Texas Water Development
Board for water and wastewater system improvements in economically
distressed areas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 17.933, Water
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) In providing financial assistance to an applicant under
this subchapter, the board may not provide to the applicant
financial assistance in the form of a grant [for which repayment is
not required] in an amount that exceeds 50 percent of the total cost
of a proposed project [amount of the financial assistance plus
interest on any amount that must be repaid,] unless the Texas
Department of State Health Services issues a determination
[finding] that a nuisance dangerous to the public health and safety
exists resulting from water supply and sanitation problems in the
area to be served by the proposed project. The board and the
applicant shall provide to the Texas Department of State Health
Services information necessary to make a determination, and the
board and the Texas Department of State Health Services may enter
into necessary memoranda of understanding to carry out this
subsection.
(c) In providing financial assistance under this
subchapter, the board may combine a grant made under this
subchapter with a loan from any other source, including another
program administered by the board [The total amount of financial
assistance provided by the board to political subdivisions under
this subchapter from state-issued bonds for which repayment is not
required may not exceed at any time 90 percent of the total
principal amount of issued and unissued bonds authorized under
Article III of the Texas Constitution, for purposes of this
subchapter plus outstanding interest on those bonds].
SECTION 2. This Act does not make an appropriation. A
provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program,
creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental
entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the
legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the
provision.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.