Bill Text: GA SB268 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission; immunity for commission and its officers, agents, and employees
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-03-26 - House Second Readers [SB268 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2009-SB268-Engrossed.html
09 LC 25
5604ER
Senate
Bill 268
By:
Senator Chapman of the 3rd
AS
PASSED SENATE
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend an Act creating the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer
Commission, approved April 19, 2006 (Ga. L. 2006, p. 3661), so as to
provide for immunity for the commission and its officers, agents, and employees;
to provide for ante litem notice; to provide for notices and hearings to be
conducted prior to any increase in rates, fees, tolls, or charges to customers
for water or sewer system services; to provide for an effective date; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
An
Act creating the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission,
approved April 19, 2006 (Ga. L. 2006, p. 3661), is amended by revising
Section 2 as follows:
"SECTION
2.
(a)
There is hereby created a body corporate and politic, to be known as the
Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission, and by that name,
style, and title said body may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued,
implead and be impleaded, complain and defend in all courts of law and equity,
except that the commission and its officers, agents, and employees when in the
performance of their public duties or work of the commission, shall in no event
be liable for any torts or negligent acts and shall have immunity therefrom, nor
shall the commission be vicariously liable for any torts committed by its
officers, agents, and employees. The commission shall have perpetual existence,
and shall be deemed a governmental body within the meaning of the Georgia
Revenue Bond Law, Article 3 of Chapter 82 of Title 36 of the Official Code of
Georgia Annotated, specifically under subparagraph (2)(C) of Code Section
36-82-61.
(b)(1)
No person, firm, or corporation having a claim for money damages against the
commission on account of injuries to any person or property shall bring any
action against the commission for such injuries without first giving notice
within six months of the happening of the event upon which a claim is
predicated.
(2)
The person, firm, or corporation shall present the claim in writing to the
governing authority of the commission for adjustment, stating the time, place,
and extent of the injury, as nearly as practicable, and the negligence which
caused the injury. No action shall be entertained by the courts against the
commission until the cause of action therein has first been presented to the
governing authority of the commission for adjustment.
(3)
The commission shall have 30 days from the presentation of the claim to consider
and act upon the claim. Action by the commission, unless it results in the
settlement thereof, shall in no sense be a bar to an action therefor in the
courts.
(4)
The running of the statute of limitations shall be suspended during the time
that the demand for payment is pending before the commission without action on
the part of the commission."
SECTION
2.
Said
Act is further amended by adding after Section 7 a new section to read as
follows:
"SECTION
7A.
The
commission shall not approve any increase in rates, fees, tolls, or charges to
customers for water or sewer system services except after notices and hearings
as required by this section. The commission shall conduct at least two public
hearings within the territory of Glynn County prior to approving any such
increase, with at least one hearing conducted at a location on the mainland and
at least one hearing conducted during a different calendar week on St. Simons
Island. Notice of such hearings, specifying the dates, times, locations, and
subject matter thereof, shall be published in the legal organ of Glynn County at
least once a week for two successive weeks, with the first such notice being
published not less than 30 days in advance of the first such hearing. The
notice shall be a prominently displayed advertisement or news article and shall
not be placed in that section of the newspaper where legal notices appear. The
contents of such notice shall also be included at least once in bills for
service to those persons who are water or sewer service customers of the
commission, at least one and not more than two billing cycles prior to the date
of the first hearing. The notices published in the legal organ and included in
customers' bills shall include a financial justification for any such proposed
increase, with five-year projections of future operating revenues and expenses
with and without such proposed increase, along with a history of the dates and
amounts of any changes in customer rates, fees, tolls, or charges previously
approved by the commission during the five-year period immediately preceding the
effective date of the proposed increase."
SECTION
3.
This
Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its
becoming law without such approval.
SECTION
4.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.