By: Uresti, Van de Putte S.B. No. 117
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to allowing municipally owned utility systems in certain
cities to fund a program to aid low-income residents in paying their
bills.
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 but less than two 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 have been threatened with
disconnection from service for nonpayment of bills and who have
been determined by the municipality to be low-income customers.
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.