H.B. No. 1160
AN ACT
relating to the transfer of a certificate of convenience and
necessity in certain municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 552, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 552.024 to read as follows:
Sec. 552.024. TRANSFER OF CERTIFICATE OF CONVENIENCE AND
NECESSITY IN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES. (a) This section applies to:
(1) a municipality that:
(A) has a population of not more than 2,500;
(B) is located in a county that:
(i) has a population of 1.7 million or more;
and
(ii) has two municipalities with a
population of 300,000 or more; and
(C) is served by a public utility that:
(i) provides service to the entire
municipality; and
(ii) charges rates for 5,000 gallons of
water for residential customers that are at least 50 percent higher
than the rates charged by a municipally owned utility that serves
another part of the county in which the municipality is located; and
(2) a municipality:
(A) with a population of more than 95,000;
(B) located in a county that:
(i) borders Lake Palestine; and
(ii) has a population of more than 200,000;
(C) that owns and operates a utility that
provides sewer service; and
(D) that has an area within the boundaries of the
municipality that is certificated to another retail public utility
that provides sewer service.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, on application by a
municipality described by Subsection (a), the agency with authority
over certificates of convenience and necessity for water and sewer
service shall transfer at such time and under such circumstances as
specified by a trial court a certificate of convenience and
necessity for water and sewer service from a public utility to the
municipality for the public utility's service area located in the
municipality's corporate limits, if the municipality:
(1) has instituted a condemnation proceeding under
Chapter 21, Property Code, to acquire the property of the public
utility's water and sewer system in the municipality's corporate
limits; and
(2) will possess the financial, managerial, and
technical capability to provide continuous and adequate water and
sewer service to the area to the satisfaction of or in accordance
with the orders of a trial court at the time of transfer.
(c) The transfer of the certificate shall not be effective
unless:
(1) a judgment that transfers the real property of the
public utility to the municipality becomes final and is not subject
to further appeal; and
(2) the municipality has paid to the public utility
the fair market value compensation due, as set by agreement or as
ordered by a court judgment, for that taking of real property.
(d) This section does not expand, restrict, or otherwise
alter the law with regard to a municipality's right to exercise the
power of eminent domain under Chapter 21, Property Code.
SECTION 2. Section 552.024, Local Government Code, as added
by this Act, applies only to a condemnation proceeding in which the
petition is filed on or after September 1, 2011. A condemnation
proceeding in which the petition is filed before September 1, 2011,
is governed by the law in effect on the date the petition was filed,
and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. 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, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1160 was passed by the House on April
24, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 1, 1 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 1160 on May 16, 2013, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 1160 on May 23, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 139,
Nays 1, 2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1160 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 15, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
1160 on May 23, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor