85R8596 DMS-D
By: Rodriguez of Bexar, Cortez, Minjarez H.B. No. 1633
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to bill payment assistance programs offered by certain
municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1502.056(a), 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 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 September 1, 2017.