89R19638 TYPED
By: Schwertner S.B. No. 2872
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to connection reservation contracts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 49.001, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 49.001. DEFINITIONS. (a) As used in this chapter:
(1) "District" means any district or authority created
by authority of either Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article III, or
Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, regardless of how
created. The term "district" shall not include any navigation
district or port authority created under general or special law,
any conservation and reclamation district created pursuant to
Chapter 62, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, 1951 (Article 8280-141,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any conservation and reclamation
district governed by Chapter 36 unless a special law creating the
district or amending the law creating the district states that this
chapter applies to that district.
(2) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission.
(3) "Board" means the governing body of a district.
(4) "Executive director" means the executive director
of the commission.
(5) "Water supply corporation" means a nonprofit water
supply or sewer service corporation created or operating under
Chapter 67.
(6) "Director" means either a supervisor or director
appointed or elected to the board.
(7) "Municipal solid waste" has the same meaning
assigned by Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code.
(8) "Special water authority" means a river authority
as that term is defined in Section 30.003, or a district created by
a special Act of the legislature that:
(A) is a provider of water or wastewater service
to two or more municipalities; and
(B) is governed by a board of directors appointed
or designated in whole or in part by the governor, the Texas Water
Development Board, or municipalities within its service area.
(9) "Potable water" means water that has been treated
for public drinking water supply purposes.
(10) "District facility" means tangible real and
personal property of the district, including any plant, equipment,
means, recreational facility as defined by Section 49.462, or
instrumentality owned, leased, operated, used, controlled,
furnished, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the business
or operations of a district. The term specifically includes a
reservoir or easement of a district.
(11) "Connection" means a standardized measure of
consumption, use, generation, or discharge attributable to an
individual unit of development calculated in accordance with
generally accepted engineering, or planning standards. Connections
may be described in terms of single family equivalent connections,
living unit of equivalents, or any other generally accepted unit of
consumption typically attributable to a single family household.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 49, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 49.2131 to read as follows:
Sec. 49.2131. CONTRACTS VALID AND ENFORCEABLE. (a) A
contract between an individual and a municipality or special
utility district created for the purpose of reserving a connection
must include an expiration date of the term of the connection.
(b) The term of a connection may not exceed 10 years from the
date the connection was reserved.
(c) Not less than 30 days before the expiration of the term
of the connection, the municipality or special utility district
must provide notice to the individual who is a party to the contract
of the connection's forthcoming expiration date.
SECTION 3: This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.