Bill Text: TX SB387 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the appeal of rates for water or sewer service charged to certain customers of a municipality.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-07 - Effective on 9/1/21 [SB387 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SB387-Enrolled.html
S.B. No. 387 |
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relating to the appeal of rates for water or sewer service charged | ||
to certain customers of a municipality. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 13.043, Water Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-4) 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 | ||
(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. | ||
(b-4) Subsection (b)(3) does not apply to a municipally | ||
owned utility that takes over the provision of service to | ||
ratepayers previously served by another retail public utility if | ||
the municipally owned utility: | ||
(1) takes over the service at the request of the | ||
ratepayer; | ||
(2) takes over the service in the manner provided by | ||
Subchapter H; or | ||
(3) is required to take over the service by state law, | ||
an order of the commission, or an order of the utility commission. | ||
SECTION 2. (a) Notwithstanding Section 13.043(c), Water | ||
Code, a ratepayer described by Section 13.043(b), Water Code, as | ||
amended by this Act, may use the appeal process in Section 13.043, | ||
Water Code, to appeal increased rates charged to the ratepayer by a | ||
municipally owned utility by filing a petition for review with the | ||
Public Utility Commission of Texas and the municipally owned | ||
utility not later than December 1, 2021, if the municipally owned | ||
utility began providing service to the ratepayer on or after | ||
September 1, 2016. | ||
(b) Subsection (a) of this section applies only to rates | ||
that the municipally owned utility has not changed since the | ||
municipally owned utility began providing service to the ratepayer. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 387 passed the Senate on | ||
April 9, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 387 passed the House on | ||
May 23, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 2, two present | ||
not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
Approved: | ||
______________________________ | ||
Date | ||
______________________________ | ||
Governor |