| 1 | 1 | | By: Jackson S.B. No. 1074 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 2011; March 16, 2011, read |
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| 3 | 3 | | first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; |
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| 4 | 4 | | May 4, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, |
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| 5 | 5 | | Nays 0; May 4, 2011, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 9 | 9 | | AN ACT |
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| 10 | 10 | | relating to water districts' authority to set rates and a |
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| 11 | 11 | | presumption of validity. |
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| 12 | 12 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 13 | 13 | | SECTION 1. The heading to Section 49.2122, Water Code, is |
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| 14 | 14 | | amended to read as follows: |
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| 15 | 15 | | Sec. 49.2122. AUTHORITY TO SET RATES; PRESUMPTION OF |
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| 16 | 16 | | VALIDITY [ESTABLISHMENT OF CUSTOMER CLASSES]. |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 49.2122, Water Code, is |
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| 18 | 18 | | amended to read as follows: |
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| 19 | 19 | | (b) A district is presumed to have weighed and considered |
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| 20 | 20 | | appropriate factors in establishing customer classes and rates and |
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| 21 | 21 | | to have properly established customer classes, rates, charges, |
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| 22 | 22 | | fees, rentals, and deposits absent a showing by a ratepayer at a |
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| 23 | 23 | | hearing on an appeal filed under Section 13.043(b) that the |
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| 24 | 24 | | district had no reasonable basis for its action. A district's rates |
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| 25 | 25 | | are presumed just and reasonable and not unreasonably preferential, |
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| 26 | 26 | | prejudicial, or discriminatory absent a showing by a ratepayer at a |
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| 27 | 27 | | hearing on an appeal filed under Section 13.043(b) that the |
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| 28 | 28 | | district had no reasonable basis for its action [that the district |
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| 29 | 29 | | acted arbitrarily and capriciously]. |
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| 30 | 30 | | SECTION 3. The changes in law made by Section 49.2122, Water |
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| 31 | 31 | | Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to rates established on or |
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| 32 | 32 | | after the effective date of this Act. A rate established before the |
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| 33 | 33 | | effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect |
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| 34 | 34 | | immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect |
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| 35 | 35 | | for that purpose. |
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| 36 | 36 | | SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |
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| 37 | 37 | | * * * * * |
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