By: Flynn, VanDeaver (Senate Sponsor - Nichols) H.B. No. 2180
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2017;
May 4, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on
Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs; May 16, 2017, reported
favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 16, 2017,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Sulphur River Basin Authority, following
recommendations of the Sunset Advisory Commission.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1A(a), Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, as repealed by Chapter 938
(H.B. 3123), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015,
and amended by Chapter 1148 (S.B. 523), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, is reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
(a) The authority is subject to review under Chapter 325,
Government Code (Texas Sunset Act), but may not be abolished under
that chapter. The review shall be conducted under Section 325.025,
Government Code, as if the authority were a state agency scheduled
to be abolished September 1, 2029 [2017], and every 12th year after
that year.
SECTION 2. Section 2(11), Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended to read as
follows:
(11) "Waste" means sewage, industrial waste,
municipal waste, recreational waste, agricultural waste, or waste
heat[, solid waste, or any other waste].
SECTION 3. Section 3(a), Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The authority is composed of the territory in each
county in Texas, other than Fannin County, that is located in whole
or in part within the watershed of the Sulphur River and its
tributaries with confluences with the Sulphur River upstream from
the eastern boundary of Texas, as those watersheds and tributaries
are defined by maps now on file with the development board [Texas
Department of Water Resources].
SECTION 4. Section 4, Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 4. AUTHORITY PURPOSES. The purpose of this Act is to
authorize the authority to provide for the conservation and
development of the state's natural resources within the basin of
Sulphur River, including:
(1) the control, storage, preservation, and
distribution of the state's water for domestic and municipal uses,
industrial uses, irrigation, mining and recovery of minerals, stock
raising, underground water recharge, electric power generation,
navigation, [recreation and pleasure,] and other beneficial uses
and purposes;
(2) the reclamation and irrigation of land needing
irrigation;
(3) the reclamation and drainage of overflowed land
and other land needing drainage;
(4) the maintenance and enhancement of the quality of
the water;
(5) the conservation and development of the [forests,]
water[, and hydroelectric power];
(6) the navigation of inland water; and
(7) the provision of systems, facilities, and
procedures for the collection, transportation, handling,
treatment, and disposal of waste [of all types].
SECTION 5. Section 6, Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended by amending
Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (i) and adding Subsection (j) to read
as follows:
(a) The authority shall be governed by a board of directors
composed of seven [six] members. The members of the board shall be
appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate.
One member of the board shall be appointed to represent the
authority at large. Two members of the board shall be appointed
from each of the following regions:
(1) Region 1: Bowie and Red River counties;
(2) Region 2: Cass, Franklin, Hunt, Morris, and Titus
counties; and
(3) Region 3: Delta, Hopkins, and Lamar counties.
(b) Each member of the board must be a qualified elector. A
member of the board appointed to represent a region under
Subsection (a) must be [and] a resident of a county in the region
for which the member [he] is appointed.
(c) Each [Except for the initial members of the board, each]
member of the board shall serve for a term of six years and until the
member's [his] successor has qualified. [Of the six initial
members appointed by the governor, the governor shall designate two
members to serve for terms that expire on February 1, 1987, two
members to serve for terms that expire on February 1, 1989, and two
members to serve for terms that expire on February 1, 1991.]
(i) The governor shall designate a member of the board as
the presiding officer of the board to serve in that capacity at the
pleasure of the governor.
(j) The board shall elect [a president,] one or more
vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and other officers as
the members of the board consider necessary. The presiding officer
[president] and vice-president must be members of the board, but
other officers are not required to be members of the board. The
offices of the secretary and treasurer may be combined, and the
offices of assistant secretary and assistant treasurer may be
combined.
SECTION 6. Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th Legislature, 1st
Called Session, 1985, is amended by adding Sections 6A and 6B to
read as follows:
Sec. 6A. BOARD MEMBER TRAINING. (a) A person who is
appointed to and qualifies for office as a member of the board may
not vote, deliberate, or be counted as a member in attendance at a
meeting of the board until the person completes a training program
that complies with this section.
(b) The training program must provide the person with
information regarding:
(1) the law governing authority operations;
(2) the programs, functions, rules, and budget of the
authority;
(3) the scope of and limitations on the rulemaking
authority of the authority;
(4) the results of the most recent formal audit of the
authority;
(5) the requirements of:
(A) laws relating to open meetings, public
information, administrative procedure, and disclosing conflicts of
interest; and
(B) other laws applicable to members of the
governing body of a river authority in performing their duties; and
(6) any applicable ethics policies adopted by the
board or the Texas Ethics Commission.
(c) A person appointed to the board is entitled to
reimbursement for the travel expenses incurred in attending the
training program regardless of whether the attendance at the
program occurs before or after the person qualifies for office.
(d) The board shall create a training manual that includes
the information required by Subsection (b). The board shall
distribute a copy of the training manual annually to each member of
the board. On receipt of the training manual, each member of the
board shall sign a statement acknowledging receipt of the training
manual.
Sec. 6B. USE OF ALTERNATIVE RULEMAKING AND DISPUTE
RESOLUTION. (a) The board shall develop a policy to encourage the
use of:
(1) negotiated rulemaking procedures under Chapter
2008, Government Code, for the adoption of authority rules; and
(2) appropriate alternative dispute resolution
procedures under Chapter 2009, Government Code, to assist in the
resolution of internal and external disputes under the authority's
jurisdiction.
(b) The authority's procedures relating to alternative
dispute resolution must conform, to the extent possible, to any
model guidelines issued by the State Office of Administrative
Hearings for the use of alternative dispute resolution by state
agencies.
(c) The authority shall:
(1) coordinate the implementation of the policy
adopted under Subsection (a);
(2) provide training as needed to implement the
procedures for negotiated rulemaking or alternative dispute
resolution; and
(3) collect data concerning the effectiveness of those
procedures.
SECTION 7. Section 8, Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended by adding
Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) A director's compensation may be increased as
authorized by Section 49.060, Water Code, by resolution adopted by
the board in accordance with Subsection (e) of that section on or
after September 1, 1995.
SECTION 8. Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th Legislature, 1st
Called Session, 1985, is amended by adding Sections 10A and 13A to
read as follows:
Sec. 10A. SEPARATION OF POLICYMAKING AND MANAGEMENT
FUNCTIONS. The board shall develop and implement policies that
clearly separate the policymaking responsibilities of the board and
the management responsibilities of the executive director and staff
of the authority.
Sec. 13A. COMPLAINTS. (a) The authority shall maintain a
system to promptly and efficiently act on complaints filed with the
authority. The authority shall maintain information about parties
to the complaint, the subject matter of the complaint, a summary of
the results of the review or investigation of the complaint, and its
disposition.
(b) The authority shall make information available
describing its procedures for complaint investigation and
resolution.
(c) The authority shall periodically notify the complaint
parties of the status of the complaint until final disposition.
SECTION 9. Sections 17(b) and (d), Chapter 3, Acts of the
69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, are amended to read as
follows:
(b) The authority may exercise the powers of control and use
of the state's water in the manner and for the following purposes:
(1) to provide for the control and coordination of
water use in the basin as a unit;
(2) to provide by adequate organization and
administration for the preservation of the rights of the people of
the different sections of the basin in the beneficial use of water;
(3) to provide for conserving storm water, floodwater,
and unappropriated flow of the basin, including the storage,
control, transportation, treatment, and distribution of that
water, and the prevention of the escape of water without the maximum
of public service and for the prevention of devastation of land from
recurrent overflows, and the protection of life and property in the
river basin from uncontrolled floodwater;
(4) to provide for the conservation of water essential
for domestic and other water uses of the people of the basin,
including necessary water supplies for cities, towns, and
industrial districts;
(5) to provide for the irrigation of land in the basin
where irrigation is required for agricultural purposes or is
considered helpful to more profitable agricultural production and
for the equitable distribution of storm water, floodwater, and
unappropriated flow water to the regional potential requirements
for all uses;
(6) to provide for the encouragement and development
of drainage systems and provisions for drainage of land in the
valleys of the basin needing drainage for profitable agricultural
and livestock production and industrial activities, and other
drainage of land for the most advantageous use;
(7) to provide for the conservation of soil against
destructive erosion, thereby preventing the increased flood menace
incident to erosion;
(8) to control and make available for use storm water,
floodwater, and unappropriated flow water as authorized by the
commission, in the development of commercial and industrial
enterprises in all sections of the watershed area of the authority;
(9) [to provide for the control, storage, and use of
storm water, floodwater, and unappropriated flow water in the
development and distribution of hydroelectric power, where this use
may be economically coordinated with other and superior uses, and
subordinated to the uses declared by law to be superior;
[(10)] to provide for each purpose and use for which
storm water, floodwater, and unappropriated flow water when
controlled and conserved may be used in the performance of a useful
service as contemplated and authorized by the provisions of the
constitution and laws of this state;
(10) [(11)] to control, store, and preserve the water
of the basin inside the boundaries of the authority for any useful
purpose;
(11) [(12)] to use, distribute, and sell water for any
beneficial purpose inside and outside the authority; and
(12) [(13)] to acquire water and water rights inside
and outside the authority.
(d) The authority shall adopt and implement a program of
water conservation consistent with rules and criteria duly adopted
and enforceable by the commission and development board
[department] for similarly situated authorities. A program of
water conservation means the use of practices, techniques, and
technologies that will reduce the consumption of water, reduce the
loss or waste of water, improve efficiency in the use of water, or
increase the recycling and reuse of water so that a water supply is
made available for future uses.
SECTION 10. Sections 20 and 23, Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, are amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 20. WATER QUALITY CONTROL. The authority is a river
authority for the purposes and definitions of Chapter 30, Water
Code, and the Clean Air Financing Act (Article 4477-5a, Vernon's
Texas Civil Statutes)[, and the Solid Waste Resource Recovery
Financing Act (Article 4477-7a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)] as
they apply to the authority. If a provision of the Clean Air
Financing Act [one of those Acts] conflicts with this Act, this Act
prevails.
Sec. 23. PERMITS AND LICENSES. (a) The authority shall
apply for any permits, licenses, [franchises,] and other grants of
authority required from the commission.
(b) The authority may apply for any permits, licenses,
[franchises,] and financial assistance it may need from [the
department or] any federal, state, or local governmental agency.
(c) Before voting on a proposed project for which the board
will seek a permit, the board shall obtain advice on the proposed
project from the county judge of each county in which the proposed
project is proposed to be located.
SECTION 11. Section 24(a), Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) The authority may enter into service contracts and may
adopt resolutions and orders establishing rates and providing for
the collection of fees and charges for the sale or use of water, the
services of water transmission, treatment, and storage facilities,
[solid and] liquid waste collection, treatment and disposal
facilities and services, [the use of park and recreational
facilities,] the sale of power and electric energy, and any other
services or facilities sold, furnished, or supplied by the
authority.
SECTION 12. Sections 29(b) and (c), Chapter 3, Acts of the
69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, are amended to read as
follows:
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the authority may:
(1) undertake and carry out any activities that are
related to or necessary in carrying out or performing any power or
function of the authority;
(2) [,] enter into contracts, loan agreements, leases,
or installment sales agreements;[, and]
(3) acquire, purchase, construct, own, operate,
maintain, repair, improve, or extend, and loan, lease, sell, or
otherwise dispose of, including by such methods as loan payments,
rentals, sales, and installment sales, as the parties may agree,
any facilities, plants, buildings, structures, equipment, and
appliances and [,] property or any interest in property;[,] and
(4) use any or all money or proceeds of bonds and other
obligations. [This may be accomplished by such methods as loan
payments, rentals, sales, and installment sales.]
(c) All persons are authorized to contract with the
authority in any manner authorized by this Act, Chapter 30, Water
Code, and the Clean Air Financing Act (Article 4477-5a, Vernon's
Texas Civil Statutes)[, and the Solid Waste Resource Recovery
Financing Act (Article 4477-7a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),]
with respect to water, waste, pollution control, or any other
facilities and any services provided by the authority. A public
agency also may enter into and execute such a contract with the
authority and may determine, agree, and pledge that all or any part
of its payments under the contract is payable from the source
described in Section 30.030(c), Water Code, subject only to the
authorization of the contract, pledge, and payments by the
governing body of the public agency. A public agency also may use
and pledge any other available revenues or resources for payment of
amounts due under those contracts, as an additional source or
sources of payment or as the sole source or sources of payment.
SECTION 13. Section 37, Chapter 3, Acts of the 69th
Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 37. WORK WITH DEVELOPMENT BOARD. (a) The authority
has and may exercise all the powers vested in political
subdivisions under Title 2, Water Code.
(b) The authority has and may exercise[, including] the
powers necessary to enable the authority to participate in the
programs administered by the development board [department] for the
acquisition and development of facilities, the sale or lease of
facilities, financial assistance to political subdivisions, and
other programs administered by the development board.
SECTION 14. The following sections of Chapter 3, Acts of the
69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, are repealed:
(1) Section 2(5);
(2) Section 18;
(3) Section 21; and
(4) Section 22.
SECTION 15. (a) The terms of the members of the board of
directors of the Sulphur River Basin Authority serving on the
effective date of this Act expire on September 1, 2017.
(b) Not later than September 2, 2017, the governor shall
make the appointments required by Section 6, Chapter 3, Acts of the
69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, as amended by this Act.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 6(c), Chapter 3, Acts of the
69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, as amended by this Act,
of the seven initial members appointed by the governor under that
section, the governor shall designate two members to serve for
terms that expire on February 1, 2019, two members to serve for
terms that expire on February 1, 2021, and three members to serve
for terms that expire on February 1, 2023.
(d) The governor may appoint to the board of directors under
Subsection (b) of this section a member whose term expires under
Subsection (a) of this section.
SECTION 16. (a) Notwithstanding Section 6A, Chapter 3,
Acts of the 69th Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1985, as added by
this Act, a person serving on the board of directors of the Sulphur
River Basin Authority may vote, deliberate, and be counted as a
director in attendance at a meeting of the board until December 1,
2017.
(b) This section expires January 1, 2018.
SECTION 17. (a) The legal notice of the intention to
introduce this Act, setting forth the general substance of this
Act, has been published as provided by law, and the notice and a
copy of this Act have been furnished to all persons, agencies,
officials, or entities to which they are required to be furnished
under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313,
Government Code.
(b) The governor, one of the required recipients, has
submitted the notice and Act to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives within the required time.
(d) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
SECTION 18. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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