By: Van de Putte, et al. S.B. No. 1002
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the designation of program costs for providing bill
payment assistance to certain military veterans as a necessary
operating expense that is a first lien against revenue of certain
electric and gas utilities' revenue securing certain public
securities or obligations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 1502.056, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) If the revenue of a utility system, park, or swimming
pool secures the payment of public securities issued or obligations
incurred under this chapter, each expense of operation and
maintenance, including all salaries, labor, materials, interest,
repairs and extensions necessary to provide efficient service, and
each proper item of expense, is a first lien against that
revenue. For a municipality with a population of more than one
million, the first lien against the revenue of a municipally owned
electric or gas utility system that secures the payment of public
securities issued or obligations incurred under this chapter also
applies to funding, as a necessary operations expense, for a bill
payment assistance program for utility system customers who:
(1) have been threatened with disconnection from
service for nonpayment of bills and who have been determined by the
municipality to be low-income customers; or
(2) are military veterans who have significantly
decreased abilities to regulate their bodies' core temperatures
because of severe burns received in combat.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.