Bill Text: TX HB2959 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the provision of wholesale water and wastewater service to certain municipalities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-02 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB2959 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB2959-Comm_Sub.html

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85R24712 JXC-D
By: Isaac H.B. No. 2959
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2959:
By: Larson C.S.H.B. No. 2959

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of wholesale water and wastewater service
to certain municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 13, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 13.088 to read as follows:
Sec. 13.088. MUNICIPAL WHOLESALE SERVICE IN CERTAIN
COUNTIES. (a) This section applies only to:
(1) a home-rule municipality primarily located in a
county with a population of more than one million; and
(2) a general-law municipality with a population of
less than 301 located in a county with a population of more than
150,000.
(b) A municipally owned utility of a home-rule municipality
shall provide wholesale water and wastewater service to a
general-law municipality, in the corporate boundaries or the
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the general-law municipality, on
the request of the general-law municipality, at the level of
service requested by the general-law municipality, if:
(1) the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the
home-rule municipality borders the extraterritorial jurisdiction
of the general-law municipality;
(2) the general-law municipality possesses a
certificate of public convenience and necessity;
(3) a regulated aquifer is the sole water supply for
the general-law municipality at the time the request is made and
while the service is provided;
(4) a groundwater conservation district with
jurisdiction over the aquifer has determined that the aquifer has
limited capacity and experiences frequent droughts; and
(5) at least 50 percent of the territory of the
general-law municipality, including territory in the
municipality's corporate boundaries and extraterritorial
jurisdiction, is located in a recharge zone of the aquifer
described by Subdivision (3) and the groundwater conservation
district described by Subdivision (4) has determined that the
recharge zone is environmentally sensitive.
(c) A general-law municipality that makes a request and
receives wholesale water and wastewater service under this section
is responsible for:
(1) paying the general-law municipality's pro rata
share of all reasonable design, construction, and related costs and
fees associated with constructing new facilities or extending,
improving, or expanding existing facilities required for providing
the service, not including costs for oversizing the facilities
beyond the needs of the general-law municipality;
(2) all costs associated with the design and
construction of facilities required for providing the service
located in the corporate boundaries or extraterritorial
jurisdiction of the general-law municipality; and
(3) design, construction, and related activities for
facilities required for providing the service that are to be
located in the home-rule municipality's corporate boundaries or
extraterritorial jurisdiction, in accordance with the design
criteria, standards, specifications, and procedures of the
municipally owned utility.
(d) A home-rule municipality that provides wholesale water
and wastewater service through its municipally owned utility under
this section may not own, operate, or maintain facilities used to
provide the service located in the general-law municipality that
receives the service.
(e) A general-law municipality that makes a request shall
enter into a wholesale water and wastewater service agreement with
the municipally owned utility under the utility's standard terms
and conditions applicable for wholesale water and wastewater
service. The wholesale service agreement must be executed:
(1) before the initiation of preliminary engineering,
design, and construction, extensions, improvements, or expansions
of infrastructure necessary for wholesale services; and
(2) not later than the 180th day after the date the
request is submitted.
(f) After execution of the wholesale service agreement, the
home-rule municipality or the municipally owned utility may not
contest an application related to water or wastewater submitted to
the commission or the utility commission by the general-law
municipality.
(g) A municipally owned utility that receives a request
under this section:
(1) may request that the utility commission determine
whether the general-law municipality meets the requirements of
Subsection (b);
(2) may not recover through the municipally owned
utility's wholesale rates for the general-law municipality design,
construction, and related costs and fees associated with
constructing new facilities or extending, improving, or expanding
existing facilities required for the service that have been paid by
the general-law municipality and conveyed to the home-rule
municipality for ownership, operation, and maintenance; and
(3) may recover through the municipally owned
utility's wholesale rates for the general-law municipality any
costs related to the maintenance of infrastructure described in
Subdivision (2), in addition to the utility's other costs of
service as approved by the home-rule municipality.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.