Bill Text: TX HB3668 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to certificates of public convenience and necessity for water or sewer services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-12 - Placed on General State Calendar [HB3668 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB3668-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to certificates of public convenience and necessity for water or sewer services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-12 - Placed on General State Calendar [HB3668 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB3668-Introduced.html
82R93 TJS-F | ||
By: Callegari | H.B. No. 3668 |
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relating to certificates of public convenience and necessity for | ||
water or sewer services. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 13.245, Water Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(b) Except as provided by Subsections [ |
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(c-1), and (c-2), the commission may not grant to a retail public | ||
utility a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a | ||
service area within the boundaries or extraterritorial | ||
jurisdiction of a municipality without the consent of the | ||
municipality. The municipality may not unreasonably withhold the | ||
consent. As a condition of the consent, a municipality may require | ||
that all water and sewer facilities be designed and constructed in | ||
accordance with the municipality's standards for facilities. | ||
(c-1) The commission may grant a certificate of public | ||
convenience and necessity to a retail public utility for a service | ||
area inside the boundaries or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a | ||
municipality before the 180th day after the date the municipality | ||
receives the retail public utility's application if: | ||
(1) the municipality has not entered into a binding | ||
commitment to serve the area that is the subject of the application | ||
on or before the 180th day after the date a formal request for | ||
service is made on the same or substantially similar terms as | ||
provided by the retail public utility's application, including a | ||
capital improvements plan as required by Section 13.244(d)(3); or | ||
(2) the municipality has refused to provide the | ||
service applied for as evidenced by a formal vote of the | ||
municipality's governing body or by an official notification from | ||
the municipality. | ||
(c-2) The commission must include as a condition of a | ||
certificate of public convenience and necessity granted under | ||
Subsection (c-1) that the authorized water and sewer facilities be | ||
designed and constructed in accordance with the municipality's | ||
standards for water and sewer facilities. | ||
SECTION 2. Sections 13.2451(a) and (b), Water Code, are | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), if [ |
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municipality extends its extraterritorial jurisdiction to include | ||
an area certificated to a retail public utility, the retail public | ||
utility may continue and extend service in its area of public | ||
convenience and necessity under the rights granted by its | ||
certificate and this chapter. | ||
(b) The commission may not extend a municipality's | ||
certificate of public convenience and necessity beyond its | ||
extraterritorial jurisdiction if a landowner elects to exclude some | ||
or all of the landowner's property within a proposed service area in | ||
accordance with Section 13.246(h). This subsection does not apply | ||
to a transfer of a certificate as approved by the commission. [ |
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SECTION 3. Section 13.246(h), Water Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(h) Except as provided by Subsection (i), a landowner who | ||
owns a tract of land that is at least 25 acres and that is wholly or | ||
partially located within the proposed service area may elect to | ||
exclude some or all of the landowner's property from the proposed | ||
service area by providing written notice to the commission before | ||
the 30th day after the date the landowner receives notice of a new | ||
application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity | ||
or for an amendment to an existing certificate of public | ||
convenience and necessity. The landowner's election is effective | ||
without a further hearing or other process by the commission. If a | ||
landowner makes an election under this subsection, the application | ||
shall be modified so that the electing landowner's property is not | ||
included in the proposed service area. An applicant for a | ||
certificate of public convenience and necessity that has land | ||
removed from its proposed certificated service area because of a | ||
landowner's election under this subsection may not be required to | ||
provide service to the removed land for any reason, including the | ||
violation of law or commission rules by the water or sewer system of | ||
another person. | ||
SECTION 4. Section 13.254, Water Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsections (a-1) and (a-3) and adding Subsection (h) to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(a-1) As an alternative to decertification under Subsection | ||
(a), the owner of a tract of land that is at least 50 acres and that | ||
is not in a platted subdivision actually receiving water or sewer | ||
service may petition the commission under this subsection for | ||
expedited release of the area from a certificate of public | ||
convenience and necessity so that the area may receive service from | ||
another retail public utility. The fact that a certificate holder | ||
is a borrower under a federal loan program is not a bar to a request | ||
under this subsection for the release of the petitioner's land and | ||
the receipt of services from an alternative provider. On the day | ||
the petitioner submits the petition to the commission, the [ |
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petitioner shall send [ |
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petition to the certificate holder, who may submit information to | ||
the commission to controvert information submitted by the | ||
petitioner. The petitioner must demonstrate that: | ||
(1) a written request for service, other than a | ||
request for standard residential or commercial service, has been | ||
submitted to the certificate holder, identifying: | ||
(A) the area for which service is sought; | ||
(B) the timeframe within which service is needed | ||
for current and projected service demands in the area; | ||
(C) the level and manner of service needed for | ||
current and projected service demands in the area; | ||
(D) the approximate cost for the alternative | ||
provider to provide the service at the same level and manner that is | ||
requested from the certificate holder; | ||
(E) the flow and pressure requirements and | ||
specific infrastructure needs, including line size and system | ||
capacity for the required level of fire protection requested; and | ||
(F) [ |
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by the certificate holder that is reasonably related to | ||
determination of the capacity or cost for providing the service; | ||
(2) the certificate holder has been allowed at least | ||
90 calendar days to review and respond to the written request and | ||
the information it contains; | ||
(3) the certificate holder: | ||
(A) has refused to provide the service; | ||
(B) is not capable of providing the service on a | ||
continuous and adequate basis within the timeframe, at the level, | ||
at the approximate cost that the alternative provider is capable of | ||
providing for a comparable level of service, or in the manner | ||
reasonably needed or requested by current and projected service | ||
demands in the area; or | ||
(C) conditions the provision of service on the | ||
payment of costs not properly allocable directly to the | ||
petitioner's service request, as determined by the commission; and | ||
(4) the alternate retail public utility from which the | ||
petitioner will be requesting service possesses the financial, | ||
managerial, and technical capability to provide [ |
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the level, at the cost, and in the manner reasonably needed or | ||
requested by current and projected service demands in the area. | ||
(a-3) Within 60 [ |
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commission determines the petition filed pursuant to Subsection | ||
(a-1) to be administratively complete, the commission shall grant | ||
the petition unless the commission makes an express finding that | ||
the petitioner failed to satisfy the elements required in | ||
Subsection (a-1) and supports its finding with separate findings | ||
and conclusions for each element based solely on the information | ||
provided by the petitioner and the certificate holder. The | ||
commission may grant or deny a petition subject to terms and | ||
conditions specifically related to the service request of the | ||
petitioner and all relevant information submitted by the petitioner | ||
and the certificate holder. In addition, the commission may | ||
require an award of compensation as otherwise provided by this | ||
section. If the certificate holder has never made service | ||
available through planning, design, construction of facilities, or | ||
contractual obligations to serve the area the petitioner seeks to | ||
have released, the commission is not required to find that the | ||
proposed alternative provider is capable of providing better | ||
service than the certificate holder, but only that the proposed | ||
alternative provider is capable of providing the requested service. | ||
(h) A certificate holder that has land removed from its | ||
certificated service area in accordance with this section may not | ||
be required, after the land is removed, to provide service to the | ||
removed land for any reason, including the violation of law or | ||
commission rules by a water or sewer system of another person. | ||
SECTION 5. The changes made by this Act to Sections 13.245, | ||
13.2451, 13.246, and 13.254, Water Code, apply only to: | ||
(1) a retail public utility's application for a | ||
certificate of public convenience and necessity for a service area | ||
in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality that is made | ||
on or after the effective date of this Act; | ||
(2) an extension of a municipality's certificate of | ||
public convenience and necessity for a service area in the | ||
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act; and | ||
(3) a petition to release an area from a certificate of | ||
public convenience and necessity that is made on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. | ||
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |