89R12292 SCR-F
By: Flores S.B. No. 2160
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission of
Texas over municipally owned utility water and sewer service
outside the corporate limits of a municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 13.042(e) and (f), Water Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(e) The utility commission shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction over the [water and sewer utility] rates, operations,
and services:
(1) of a water and sewer utility for water or sewer
utility service provided outside [not within] the corporate
[incorporated] limits of a municipality exercising exclusive
original jurisdiction over those rates, operations, and services as
provided in this chapter; and
(2) of a municipally owned utility for water or sewer
utility service provided outside the corporate limits of the
municipality.
(f) This subchapter does not give the utility commission
power or jurisdiction to regulate or supervise the rates or service
of a municipally owned utility [utility owned and operated by a
municipality, directly or through a municipally owned
corporation,] within its corporate limits or to affect or limit the
power, jurisdiction, or duties of a municipality that regulates
land and supervises water and sewer utilities within its corporate
limits, except as provided by this code.
SECTION 2. Section 13.043(b), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) Ratepayers of the following entities may appeal the
decision of the governing body of the entity affecting their water,
drainage, or sewer rates to the utility commission:
(1) a nonprofit water supply or sewer service
corporation created and operating under Chapter 67;
(2) a utility under the jurisdiction of a municipality
inside the corporate limits of the municipality;
(3) [a municipally owned utility, if the ratepayers
reside outside the corporate limits of the municipality, including
a decision of a governing body that results in an increase in rates
when the municipally owned utility takes over the provision of
service to ratepayers previously served by another retail public
utility;
[(4)] a district or authority created under Article
III, Section 52, or Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas
Constitution that provides water or sewer service to household
users; and
(4) [(5)] a utility owned by an affected county, if
the ratepayer's rates are actually or may be adversely affected.
For the purposes of this section ratepayers who reside outside the
boundaries of the district or authority shall be considered a
separate class from ratepayers who reside inside those boundaries.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a rate proceeding initiated on or after the effective date of this
Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.