Bill Text: TX HB2590 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the administration, powers, and duties of water districts.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/19 [HB2590 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB2590-Introduced.html

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86R8237 AAF-D
By: Biedermann H.B. No. 2590

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration, powers, and duties of a municipal
utility district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.021(e), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(e) A copy of the order of the commission granting or
denying a petition shall be mailed to:
(1) each city having extraterritorial jurisdiction in
the county or counties in which the district is or is proposed to be
located who requested a hearing under Section 49.011; and
(2) each state senator and representative who
represent the area in which the district is or is proposed to be
located.
SECTION 2. Section 54.022, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 54.022. TEMPORARY DIRECTORS. (a) If the commission
grants the petition, it shall appoint five temporary directors to
serve until permanent directors are elected.
(b) A majority of temporary directors appointed under
Subsection (a) must be residents of the county in which the district
is located.
SECTION 3. Section 54.030, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
(c-1) The governing body of a district described by
Subsection (b) shall, at the time a copy of the resolution is filed
with the commission under Subsection (c), send by mail to property
owners in the district written notice of legal proceedings, if any,
pending against the converting district. The converting district
biannually until final resolution of the legal proceedings shall
send by mail to property owners in the converting district written
notice of the status of the proceedings. As soon as practicable
after the final resolution of the legal proceedings, the district
shall send by mail to the property owners in the converting district
written notice of the resolution.
SECTION 4. Section 54.032(a), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Notice of the conversion hearing shall be given by:
(1) publishing notice in a newspaper with general
circulation in the county or counties in which the district is
located; and
(2) sending by mail written notice to landowners who
own property adjacent to the boundaries of the district.
SECTION 5. Section 54.209, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 54.209. LIMITATION ON USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN. A
district may not exercise the power of eminent domain outside the
district boundaries to acquire:
(1) a site for a water treatment plant, water storage
facility, wastewater treatment plant, or wastewater disposal plant
or a site or easement to discharge treated water or wastewater
effluent;
(2) a site for a park, swimming pool, or other
recreational facility, as defined by Section 49.462;
(3) an exclusive easement through a county regional
park; or
(4) a site or easement for a road project.
SECTION 6. Section 54.022, Water Code, as amended by this
Act, does not affect the entitlement of a temporary director
serving on the board of directors of a municipal utility district
under Chapter 54, Water Code, immediately before the effective date
of this Act to continue to serve as a temporary director for the
remainder of the director's term.
SECTION 7. Sections 54.030 and 54.032, Water Code, as
amended by this Act, apply only to a resolution declaring a water
district's conversion into a municipal utility district operating
under Chapter 54, Water Code, adopted on or after the effective date
of this Act. A resolution adopted before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the resolution was
adopted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.