By: Crownover (Senate Sponsor - Nelson) H.B. No. 738
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 2013;
May 10, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
Resources; May 17, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 17, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the review of the creation of certain proposed
municipal utility districts by county commissioners courts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.0161, Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 54.0161. REVIEW OF CREATION BY COUNTY. (a) This
section applies only to a proposed district all of which is to be
located outside the corporate limits of a municipality.
(a-1) Promptly after a petition is filed with the commission
to create a district to which this section applies, the commission
shall notify the commissioners court of any county in which the
proposed district is to be located.
(a-2) The [If all or part of a proposed district is to be
located outside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, the]
commissioners court of a [the] county in which the district is to be
located may review the petition for creation and other evidence and
information relating to the proposed district that the
commissioners consider necessary. Petitioners for the creation of a
district shall submit to the county commissioners court any
relevant information requested by the commissioners court [in the
event a review is done].
(b) In the event the county commissioners court votes to
submit information to the commission or to make a recommendation
regarding the creation of the proposed district [of a review], the
commissioners court shall submit to the commission, at least 10
days before the date set for action [the hearing] on the petition, a
written opinion stating:
(1) whether [or not] the commissioners court
recommends [county would recommend] the creation of the proposed
district; and
(2) [stating] any findings, conclusions, and other
information that the commissioners court thinks [think] would
assist the commission in making a final determination on the
petition.
(c) In passing on a petition subject to [under] this section
[subchapter], the commission shall consider the written opinion
submitted by the county commissioners court.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a petition for the creation of a municipal utility district that is
filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or
after the effective date of this Act. A petition pending before the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the petition
was filed, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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