Bill Text: TX HB363 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the notice and petition for the creation of a municipal utility district in certain counties.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB363 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB363-Introduced.html

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89R1010 SCP-F
By: Bell of Kaufman H.B. No. 363

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the notice and petition for the creation of a municipal
utility district in certain counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 54.001(4) and (5), Water Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(4) "Commission" means the Texas [Natural Resource
Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality.
(5) "Executive director" means the executive director
of the commission [Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission].
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 54.0135 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.0135. PRE-PETITION NOTICE TO CERTAIN COUNTIES. (a)
This section applies only to a proposed district described by
Section 54.0161(a).
(b) Before a petition requesting creation of a proposed
district is filed with the commission under Section 54.014, notice
must be sent by certified mail to the commissioners court of each
county in which the proposed district is to be located. The notice
must:
(1) generally describe the boundaries of the land to
be included in the proposed district, including, if possible, by
metes and bounds or by lot and block number if there is a recorded
map or plat and survey of the area to be included in the district;
and
(2) inform the commissioners court of the right to:
(A) respond to the notice provided under this
section;
(B) review the petition requesting creation of
the proposed district; and
(C) submit a written opinion on the creation of
the proposed district under Section 54.0161.
(c) Notice under this section must be sent by certified mail
at least 30 days before the date a petition requesting creation of
the proposed district is filed with the commission under Section
54.014.
SECTION 3. Section 54.015, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 54.015. CONTENTS OF PETITION. The petition shall:
(1) describe the boundaries of the proposed district
by metes and bounds or by lot and block number, if there is a
recorded map or plat and survey of the area;
(2) state the general nature of the work proposed to be
done, the necessity for the work, and the cost of the project as
then estimated by those filing the petition; [and]
(3) include a name of the district which shall be
generally descriptive of the locale of the district followed by the
words Municipal Utility District, or if a district is located
within one county, it may be designated "__________ County
Municipal Utility District No. ______." (Insert the name of the
county and proper consecutive number.) The proposed district shall
not have the same name as any other district in the same county; and
(4) for a district described by Section 54.0161(a),
include a copy of the notice described by Section 54.0135.
SECTION 4. Section 54.0135, Water Code, as added by this
Act, and Section 54.015, Water Code, as amended by this Act, apply
only to a petition requesting creation of a municipal utility
district that is filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A petition
requesting creation of a municipal utility district that was filed
with the commission before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the petition was filed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.