Bill Text: TX SB2582 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the San Antonio River Authority, following recommendations of the Sunset Advisory Commission; altering the terms of office of the members of the board of directors of the authority.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-24 - Left pending in committee [SB2582 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB2582-Introduced.html

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88R1441 ANG-D
By: Johnson, et al. S.B. No. 2582

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the San Antonio River Authority, following
recommendations of the Sunset Advisory Commission; altering the
terms of office of the members of the board of directors of the
authority.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1-a(a), Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The District is subject to review under Chapter 325,
Government Code (Texas Sunset Act), but may not be abolished under
that chapter. The review shall be conducted under Section 325.025,
Government Code, as if the District were a state agency scheduled to
be abolished September 1, 2035 [2023], and every 12th year after
that year.
SECTION 2. Section 3, Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. POWERS OF THE DISTRICT. The District is hereby
invested with all of the powers of the State of Texas under Article
16, Section 59, of the Constitution of the State of Texas to
effectuate the construction, maintenance and operation of
navigable canals or waterways, to effectuate flood control, to
effectuate the conservation and use, for all beneficial purposes,
of ground, storm, flood and unappropriated flow waters in the
District, to effectuate irrigation, to effectuate soil
conservation, to effectuate sewage treatment, to effectuate
pollution prevention, to encourage and develop parks, recreational
facilities and to preserve fish, to effectuate forestation and
reforestation, and to do all things as are required therefor,
subject only to: (i) declarations of policy by the Legislature of
the State of Texas as to the use of water; (ii) continuing
supervision and control by the State Board of Water Engineers and
any board or agency which may thereafter succeed to its duties;
(iii) the provisions of Section 4, page 212, Acts of the
Thirty-fifth Legislature, 1917, as subsequently amended (codified
under Article 7471, Vernon's Civil Statutes of the State of Texas),
prescribing the priorities of uses for water; and (iv) the rights
heretofore or hereafter legally acquired in water by municipalities
and other users. Subject to the foregoing, it shall be the duty of
the District to exercise for the greatest practicable measure of
the conservation and beneficial utilization of all ground, storm,
flood and unappropriated flow waters of the District, in the manner
and for the particular purposes specified hereinafter in this
Section 3 and elsewhere in this Act the following powers, rights,
privileges and functions, to wit:
(a) Navigation:
(1) To promote, construct, maintain and operate, and/or to
make practicable, promote, aid and encourage, the construction,
maintenance and operation of navigable canals or waterways and all
navigational systems or facilities auxiliary thereto using the
natural bed and banks of the San Antonio River to its junction with
the Guadalupe River where practicable and thence traversing such
route as may be found by the District to be most feasible and
practicable to connect with the Intracoastal Canal and/or with any
new canal to be constructed and/or with any harbor at or near San
Antonio Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, and also using such new
correlated artificial waterways, together with all locks and other
works, structures and artificial facilities as may be necessary and
convenient for the construction, maintenance and operation of said
navigable canals or waterways and all navigational systems or
facilities auxiliary thereto. The District is empowered to
construct, or cause to be constructed, said system of artificial
waterways, canals, locks, works and other facilities so as to
connect the watershed area of the San Antonio River, including
navigation to or at a point near the City of San Antonio, with the
Intracoastal Canal and/or with any new canal to be constructed
and/or with any harbor at or near San Antonio Bay or the Gulf of
Mexico;
(2) To control, develop, store and use the natural flow and
floodwaters of the San Antonio River and its tributaries for the
purpose of operating and maintaining said navigable canals or
waterways and all navigational systems or facilities auxiliary
thereto, provided, however, that such navigational use shall be
subordinate to consumptive use of water, and navigation shall be
incidental thereto;
(3) In the case of the construction of said navigable canals
or waterways and all navigational systems or facilities auxiliary
thereto by the Federal Government or otherwise, the District shall
have the power to construct, maintain and operate lateral
connecting canals and turning basins to serve local needs, and
shall also have the power to provide, construct, acquire, purchase,
take over, lease from others, lease to others, and to maintain and
operate, develop, regulate and/or by franchise control wharves,
docks, warehouses, grain elevators, bunkering facilities, belt or
terminal railroads, floating plants, lighterage, towing
facilities, and all other facilities incident to or in aid of the
efficient operation and development of said canals or waterways and
all navigational systems or facilities auxiliary thereto, and any
ports incident thereto, whether the same be upon land or upon water;
(4) In the event the construction and/or maintenance and
operation of said navigable canals or waterways and all
navigational systems or facilities auxiliary thereto is taken over
by the Federal Government or any agency of the Federal Government,
then and in such event the District shall be fully authorized to
make and enter into any such contracts as may be lawfully required
by the Federal Government, including such assignments and transfers
of property and rights of property and easements and privileges and
any and all other lawful things and acts may be necessary and
required in order to meet the requirements of the Federal
Government or any agency of the Federal Government in taking over
the construction and/or maintenance and operation of said navigable
canals or waterways and all navigational systems or facilities
auxiliary thereto;
(5) The District may grant a franchise or right to any
person or body politic or corporate for the use of said navigable
canals or waterways and all navigational systems or facilities
auxiliary thereto or any facility thereof in aiding navigation and
no person or body politic or corporate may provide, maintain or
operate any facility of aid of navigation in any way connected with
said navigable canals or waterways and all navigational systems or
facilities auxiliary thereto and intended for use by the public
within the meaning and intent of this Act, except by and under the
franchise granted by this District, in the form of an ordinance as
provided by this Act, which franchise may be for any term not to
exceed fifty (50) years. Such ordinance granting franchise may
contain provisions for the payment of reasonable fees, and/or other
charges to be paid to the District, and shall contain provisions
adequate to regulate the fees, tolls, rates or exactions to be
demanded for the use of, or service to be rendered by any means or
facility to be provided or operated under any such franchise, to the
end that the same will be uniform, reasonable, and without
discrimination against any person, both as to charges and the
conditions of use or service, and such ordinance shall contain all
provisions reasonably required to procure service adequate to serve
the public necessity and convenience. The District may grant a
franchise for the design, construction, repair, enlargement,
alteration, maintenance, operation of, and service from, or use of
any facility to be provided for use in aid of navigation on said
navigable canals or water ways and all navigational systems or
facilities auxiliary thereto, whether upon land, or in or upon
water. The right hereby granted shall include the right to require
uniform and adequate analytic accounting systems and forms,
periodic verified reports based thereon, and the right of audit by
the District, and other reasonable regulations designed to protect
the public. In order to procure observance of the conditions of a
franchise granted hereunder, and/or compliance with the rules and
regulations established by ordinance of the District (to be adopted
and promulgated as elsewhere is provided in this Act) hereunder,
such ordinance may provide reasonable and commensurate penalties
fixed by General Law in Texas, and not to exceed the limit for
penalties as fixed elsewhere in this Act. The forfeiture or
suspension of a franchise granted under this Act, where not
otherwise provided in any such franchise, may be only because of
discrimination in rendering service, affording use, or in taking or
demanding a toll, rate or charge. Forfeiture or suspension of a
franchise granted hereunder, unless otherwise provided therein,
shall be upon a decree of a District Court within the County in
which this District may maintain its general office. The District
may likewise by ordinance establish rules necessary or designed to
protect the physical property owned by it, or physical property
owned or operated by another under a franchise hereunder granted,
and/or to effect the safety or efficient use of the same, and in
such ordinance may provide reasonable and commensurate penalties
for the violation thereof, which penalties shall be cumulative of
other penalties provided by the General Law of Texas, and not to
exceed the limit for penalties as fixed elsewhere in this Act;
(b) Flood Control and Flood Plain Management. To prevent
and aid in the prevention of damage to persons and property by the
overflow of any and all rivers, streams or tributaries thereof
within the District including the study and designation of flood
plains and the regulation thereof;
(c) Water Conservation, Storage, Procurement, Distribution
and Supply:
(1) To store and conserve to the greatest beneficial use
that of standby service as well as for the actual delivery of water;
(6) To provide water for the development of commercial and
industrial enterprises within or without the District;
(7) To bring water into the boundaries of the District;
(8) To construct, acquire, equip, to acquire storage rights
at, and operate and maintain dams and reservoirs, either within or
without the District, had in carrying out the powers conferred upon
the District, or to exercise such powers in conjunction with
others;
(9) To contract, operate and maintain or otherwise provide
water supply lines, water purification and water pumping systems
and facilities either within or without the District;
(10) Power to execute contracts with municipalities and
others involving the construction of reservoirs, dams, water supply
lines, water purification and pumping facilities, and the
furnishing of water supply service substantially in the manner
prescribed by Chapter 342, Acts of the Regular Session of the
Fifty-first Legislature, for Districts organized and created
pursuant to Article 16, Section 59, of the Constitution, extended
so as to permit such contracts with individuals, partnerships, and
all classes of corporations, and to permit the inclusion of
provisions for the operation, maintenance and ownership of such
properties, but the powers granted the District in this Subsection
are not to be considered a limitation on the powers, rights,
privileges and functions otherwise granted herein;
(11) To acquire from the United States Government, through
the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of the Interior or any
other of its officials authorized to make such contracts, or from
the State of Texas or any agency thereof, or from any privately
financed reservoirs, unsold conservation storage capacity at any
dam within or without the District now constructed or to be
constructed either by or with the assistance of the United States
Government or the State of Texas, or by both. It may acquire
additional conservation storage capacity which may be provided at
any such dam;
(d) Irrigation: To provide water for irrigation of lands
within and without the District, and incident thereto, to
construct, operate and maintain supply lines and pumping systems
and facilities either within or without the District;
(e) Soil Conservation: For the conservation of soils and
other surface resources within the District against destructive
erosion, thereby preventing the increased flood menace incident
thereto, and for the prevention of sedimentation and siltation of
lands, channels and reservoirs, including the right either to act
as local sponsoring agent of upstream soil and water conservation
and flood prevention projects authorized by State or Federal
Agencies in conjunction with Soil Conservation Districts or to aid
and supplement the work of such upstream soil and water
conservation and flood prevention projects, all in furtherance of
the purposes of the District as provided by this Act ['Master Plan'
as defined in Section 4-a]. In connection therewith, the District
is authorized to make arrangements satisfactory to the Secretary of
Agriculture of the United States for defraying costs of operating
and maintaining such projects, in accordance with regulations
presented by the Secretary of Agriculture; provided, however, that
any portion of the total construction cost of any such project which
is allocable to flood control and/or soil conservation shall be
paid for or financed by funds which have their source in the county
in which each particular project is situated and which funds may be
of any kind or character, except taxes collected in accordance with
the provisions of Sections 15-a and 15-b of this Act;
(f) Sewage Treatment and Solid Waste Disposal. As a
necessary aid to the conservation, control, preservation,
purification and distribution of surface and ground waters within
the District, the District shall have the power to construct, own,
operate, maintain or otherwise provide, within the San Antonio
River Basin, sewage gathering, treatment and/or disposal services,
including solid waste disposal services, to charge for such
services, and to make contracts in reference thereto with counties,
municipalities and others. Provided, however, that the District
shall not exercise the powers hereinabove granted by this Section
3(f) within the boundaries of Kerr, Real, or Bandera Counties
unless the Commissioners Court of such county or counties shall
first have consented by a majority vote thereof to the exercise of
such power within such county or counties;
(g) Pollution Prevention. To provide for the study,
correcting and control of both artificial and natural pollution
including organic, inorganic and thermal, of all ground or surface
water within the San Antonio River Basin. In this connection, the
District is given the power by ordinance to promulgate rules and
regulations with regard to such pollution, both artificial and
natural, with the right of policing by said District to enforce such
rules and regulations and of providing reasonable and commensurate
penalties for the violation of any rules and regulations, which
penalties shall be cumulative of any penalties fixed by General Law
in Texas, and not to exceed the limit for penalties as fixed
elsewhere in this Act. Provided, however, that no ordinance
enacted pursuant to the powers hereinabove given the District by
this Section 3(g) shall be promulgated in any county or counties
outside the existing boundaries of the District;
(h) Parks, Recreational Facilities and Preservation of
Fish: For the encouragement and development of parks, recreational
facilities and the preservation of fish, the District shall have
the power to acquire additional land adjoining any permanent work
of improvement constructed within the District for the purpose of
developing parks, or recreational facilities. The District may
negotiate contracts with any county, municipality, municipal
corporation, person, firm, corporation, non-profit organization,
or State or Federal agency for the operation and/or maintenance of
any such park, or recreational facility. The preservation of fish
shall be in accordance with rules and regulations, if any,
prescribed by the Game and Fish Commission of the State of Texas;
(i) Forestation and Reforestation: To forest and reforest
and to aid in foresting and reforesting of all areas within the
District;
(j) Contractual: To make contracts and to execute
instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers,
rights, privileges and functions conferred upon it by this Act,
with the United States, its agencies, counties, cities, all
municipal corporations, political subdivisions and districts, and
with private persons, partnerships, associations, nonprofit
organizations, and corporations. The District shall make and
execute such contracts and instruments in accordance with the
following procedures:
(1) Concerning any wholesale contract for the sale,
purchase, procurement, distribution and/or supply of water or
conservation storage capacity, or for the construction of a
navigable canal or waterway, or any contract authorized by Section
1, Chapter 84, page 140, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, 1951, as
subsequently amended (codified under Article 7048b, Vernon's Civil
Statutes of Texas), the Manager shall cause a notice describing the
general nature of such contract to be published once each week for
three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation
in each county in the District within which such contract is to have
effect. Such contract may be considered and acted upon at the
regular meeting of the Board next following the last date of
publication or, without further notice, at any meeting thereafter.
The affirmative vote of at least seven (7) members of the Board
shall be required for the approval of confirmation or ratification
of any such contract. Of those seven (7) affirmative votes, at
least three (3) affirmative votes shall be cast by Board members
from Bexar County, at least one (1) affirmative vote shall be cast
by a Board member from Wilson County, at least one (1) affirmative
vote shall be cast by a Board member from Karnes County, and at
least one (1) affirmative vote shall be cast by a Board member from
Goliad County. The District may use any such contract as the sole
basis, or as a supplement to the basis, for securing its bonds;
(2) Concerning any construction, maintenance, operation or
repair contract, contract for the purchase of material, equipment
or supplies or any contract for services other than professional
services, if the contract will require an estimated expenditure of
more than the maximum amount for which competitive bidding is
required by statute for any political subdivision of the state or if
the contract is for a term of two (2) years or more, the Board, upon
the affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum present at any
regular or special meeting, shall award such contract to the lowest
and best bidder after publication of a notice to bidders once each
week for three (3) consecutive weeks. The Board by bylaw shall
promulgate the procedures for the publication of notice to bidders
and related procedures and may, within the limitations set forth in
this section, from time to time prescribe the amount of estimated
expenditures to be subjected to competitive bidding. In the event
of an emergency, the authority may let such contracts as are
necessary to protect and preserve the public health and welfare or
the properties of the authority, without such bidding procedures.
Members of the Board of Directors shall be ineligible to submit such
bids. Any provision of this Subsection to the contrary
notwithstanding, the District may purchase surplus property from
the United States by negotiated contract and without the necessity
of advertising for bids.
(k) General:
(1) This District hereby is vested with such title and right
of control as the State has, or may have, in, to and concerning the
natural bed and banks of the San Antonio River in its entire length,
and all of its tributaries as are within the District, as said
District is defined in Section 2-a of this Act, and the District
hereby is further vested with such title and right of control as the
State has, or may have, in, to and concerning the natural bed and
banks of any other navigable stream or tributary thereof as may be
situated within the District, as said District is defined in
Section 2-a of this Act; which investment, however, shall be in
trust, and to authorize said District to make such uses, and/or
disposition of such lands and rights (and the proceeds, income,
revenues, or trading values thereof) as in actual experience may
prove to be reasonably required for, or in aid of, the
accomplishment of the purposes of this Act;
(2) To make preliminary investigations and surveys in the
manner and for the purposes specified in said Chapter 25 (either
independently at its own cost, or jointly with others, or to
contribute to the cost thereof when done by another), whereby to
procure cooperation by the Government of the United States of
America, to the end that any project lawfully within the purposes of
this Act may be approved for construction as a Federal project under
such contractual terms and conditions as may be demanded by the
Federal Congress;
(3) To expend all sums reasonably deemed to be necessary or
expedient for seeking cooperation in accomplishing the objects of
this Act from the Federal Government, and/or any and all other
persons, creatures, or entities, whether natural, or creatures of
law or contract;
(4) Subject to the provisions of this Act from time to time
to sell or otherwise dispose of any property of any kind, real,
personal, or mixed, or any interest therein, which shall not be
necessary to the carrying on of the business of the District;
(5) To overflow and inundate any public lands and public
property and to require the relocation of roads and highways in
manner and to the extent permitted to districts organized under
General Laws pursuant to Section 59 of Article 16 of the
Constitution of the State of Texas. In the event that the District,
in the exercise of the power of eminent domain or power of
relocation, or any other power granted hereunder, makes necessary
the relocation, raising, rerouting or changing the grade of, or
altering the construction of any railroad, or street railway, all
such necessary relocation, raising, rerouting, changing of grade or
alteration of construction shall be accomplished at the sole
expense of the District;
(6) To construct, extend, improve, maintain and
reconstruct, to cause to be constructed, extended, improved,
maintained, and reconstructed, and to use and operate, any and all
facilities of any kind necessary or convenient to the exercise of
such powers, rights, privileges, and functions;
(7) To sue and to be sued in its corporate name;
(8) To adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal;
(9) To adopt and to amend its bylaws for the management of
its affairs;
(10) To appoint officers, agents, employees and
professional consultants, none of whom shall have any interest,
direct or indirect, in any contracts awarded by the District;
(11) To prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of all
officers, agents, employees and professional consultants;
(12) To acquire by purchase, lease, gift, or in any other
lawful manner and to maintain, use, and operate any and all property
of any kind, real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein,
within and without the boundaries of the District, necessary or
convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights, privileges and
functions conferred upon it by this Act, in the manner provided by
general law with respect to condemnation or, at the option of the
District, in the manner provided by the statutes relative to
condemnation by Districts organized under general law pursuant to
Section 59 of Article 16 of the Constitution of the State of Texas;
(13) To condemn lands used or dedicated for cemetery
purposes in the manner provided by the General Law of Texas where
reasonably necessary to effectuate the powers, rights, privileges
and functions of the District, provided, however, that, when such
power of condemnation is sought to be exercised with respect to any
Perpetual Care cemetery, as defined in Article 912a, Vernon's Civil
Statutes of the State of Texas, as to the condemnation of any such
Perpetual Care cemetery or portion thereof, jurisdiction is hereby
conferred for such purpose on the District Court or Courts of the
county in which such cemetery land or any part thereof may be
located, and such condemnation action shall likewise involve the
issue of the removal of the dedication thereof as such Perpetual
Care cemetery and the issue of the necessity for such taking;
(14) To borrow money for its corporate purposes and to
execute proper notes or other evidences of indebtedness, and
without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, to borrow
money and accept grants from the United States of America, and in
connection with any such loan or grant, to enter into such
agreements as the United States of America or such corporation or
agency may require; and to make and issue its negotiable bonds for
moneys borrowed in the manner and to the extent provided in Section
16. Nothing in this Act shall authorize the issuance of any bonds,
notes, or other evidences of indebtedness of the District, except
as specifically provided in this Act, and no issuance of bonds,
notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, except as specifically
provided in this Act, shall ever be authorized except by an Act of
the Legislature;
(15) To obtain loans from and accept grants from the United
States and its agencies, and from the State of Texas, and its
agencies, and it shall have the right to participate in and be the
beneficiary of any plan which may be evolved by the State or Federal
Government for guaranteeing or otherwise subsidizing the
obligations of the District;
(16) The District shall have the power to adopt and
promulgate by ordinance all reasonable rules and regulations for
purposes elsewhere provided in this Act and generally to secure and
protect any and all of its property and any and all of its works of
improvement, and to regulate residence, hunting, fishing, boating
and camping, and all recreational and business privileges on any
navigable river of the District, or any reservoir of the District,
or upon any land owned by the District. The District may prescribe
reasonable and commensurate penalties for the violation of any and
all such rules and regulations of the District, which penalties
shall be cumulative of any penalties fixed by the General Law in
Texas and shall not exceed fines of more than Two Hundred Dollars
($200), or imprisonment for not more than one hundred eighty (180)
days, or may provide for both such fine and imprisonment. No rule
or regulation which provides a penalty for the violation thereof
shall be in effect, as to enforcement of the penalty, until five (5)
days next after the District may have caused a substantive
statement of the particular rule or regulation and the penalty for
the violation thereof to be published once a week for three (3)
consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in each
county in which it is to be effective. The substantive statement so
to be published shall be as condensed as is possible to afford an
intelligent direction of the mind to the act forbidden by the rule
or regulation; one (1) notice may embrace any number of
regulations; there must be embraced in the notice advice that
breach of the particular regulation, or regulations, will subject
the violator to the infliction of a penalty and there also shall be
included in the notice advice that the full text of the regulations
sought to be enforced is on file in the principal office of the
District, where the same may be read by any interested person. Five
(5) days after the third publication of the notice hereby required,
the advertised regulation shall be in effect, and ignorance of any
such regulation shall not constitute a defense to a prosecution for
the enforcement of a penalty and, the rules and regulations
authorized hereby, after the required publication, shall
judicially be known to the courts and shall be considered of a
nature like unto that of valid penal ordinance of a city of the
State. The District shall be primarily liable for any court costs
incurred hereunder, and the cost to maintain any offender committed
for imprisonment hereunder. Any fine imposed in any such
proceeding and paid in money shall be payable to this District and
applied as its Board may direct;
(17) To designate an official newspaper of the District in
each county in the District, each of which newspapers shall be a
newspaper having general circulation in the county in which it is
situated;
(18) To acquire such rights-of-way as are necessary to
construct, operate and maintain such roads as are necessary for
ingress and egress to any work of improvement or to any park,
recreational facility, or fish or wildlife preserve or reserve;
(19) To grant concessions and franchises upon the premises
of any works of improvement or any park, recreational facility or
fish or wildlife preserve or reserve to any person or corporation;
(20) When germane to the accomplishment and the purposes of
this Act, and not otherwise adequately provided by Chapter 25, or
provided elsewhere in this Act, the Directors of the District shall
have the power to adopt and promulgate ordinances, which may be done
by a majority (except as specifically provided elsewhere in this
Act) of those Directors present at any meeting held in compliance
with the provisions of the bylaws at which there must be present a
majority of the Board, constituting a quorum. No notice shall be
required before the passage of such ordinance, except such notices
of special or regular meetings of the Board as may be provided
elsewhere in this Act. After having adopted such ordinances, the
Directors shall cause the same to be filed and recorded in the
official records of the Authority. The Directors may, if they deem
necessary and proper, in addition to filing and recording same in
the official records of the Authority, either caused certified
copies of same to be forthwith filed of record in the office of the
County Clerk of each county situated in whole or in part within the
District within which such ordinance is intended to have
application and/or to be published once or more each week for three
(3) or more consecutive weeks in a newspaper or newspapers of
general circulation in each county within the District within which
ordinance is intended to have application, following either or all
of which methods of recording and/or publication the ordinance
shall be in full force and effect; and thereafter all courts and
persons shall be held to have knowledge thereof, just as though the
same had been embraced in the body of this Act and the County Clerk
in any county is authorized and directed to file and record all
certified copies of such county and to charge therefor the same fees
as is provided for recording deeds of conveyance. And the powers of
said District to adopt ordinances shall include, among other things
as follows: in any case in which said Chapter 25 does not provide a
specific power or right germane to, or appropriate, or adequate to
accomplish an object of this Act, and such specific power has been,
or hereafter may, conferred by law on Counties, Cities, Water
Improvement Districts, Water Control and Improvement Districts,
Drainage Districts, Navigation Districts, Canal Corporations,
Channel and Dock Corporations, Deep Water Corporations, Railway
Corporations, Terminal Railway Corporations, Telegraph and
Telephone Corporations, or other like creatures of the law, then to
the intent required to make adequate hereto the powers and rights of
this District, it may by ordinance adopt and have as part of the law
of its being so much of the power and right of any of the herein
designated creatures of the law as will enable it effectively to
accomplish that purpose of this Act. The adoption of a power or
mode of procedure hereunder shall not be held to include any
incidental limitation which would impede the lawful accomplishment
of the purposes of this Act. As to this, there shall be no limit
hereof save such as would violate the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States and the State of Texas concerning
the rights of others;
(21) This District shall have all such powers and rights,
and regulations for government and procedure, as are contained in
said Chapter 25, which shall be cumulative of those provided by this
Act, and those rules for procedure which may be provided by
ordinances adopted by the District under other provisions of this
Act.
SECTION 3. Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1937, is amended by adding Section 5 to read as
follows:
Sec. 5. PARTNERSHIP WITH NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. (a) In
this section, "affiliated nonprofit organization" means a
nonprofit organization:
(1) created by the District; or
(2) for which the District, the Board, or the
District's employees have a right to appoint one or more of the
members of the governing body of the nonprofit organization.
(b) The District may contract or otherwise coordinate with a
nonprofit organization, including an affiliated nonprofit
organization, to accomplish the purposes of the District.
(c) Members of the Board or employees of the District may
not constitute a majority of the board of directors or other
governing body of an affiliated nonprofit organization.
(d) The Board shall develop a policy regarding fund-raising
activities of any nonprofit organizations that enter into a
partnership with the District. The policy must:
(1) include acceptable and prohibited fund-raising
activities;
(2) specify how fund-raising is conducted and
supervised; and
(3) include criteria for seeking and selecting
corporate sponsors to ensure that sponsorships serve the public
interest and are consistent with the purposes of the District.
(e) A memorandum of understanding between the District and
an affiliated nonprofit organization entered into under this
section must include the policy developed by the Board under
Subsection (d) of this section.
SECTION 4. Section 9, Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 9. GOVERNING BODY OF THE DISTRICT; QUALIFICATIONS OF
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD; VACANCIES; TERM OF OFFICE. The government and
control of the District shall be vested in a Board of Directors
consisting of 12 [twelve (12)] members, 6 [six (6)] of whom shall be
elected from Bexar County, 2 [two (2)] of whom shall be elected from
Wilson County, 2 [two (2)] of whom shall be elected from Karnes
County, and 2 [two (2)] of whom shall be elected from Goliad County.
Each director shall serve for a term of four [six (6)] years, and
shall hold office until the director's [his] successor has been
elected and has qualified by taking the oath of office. Before
entering upon the duties of the member's [his] office, each member
of the Board shall take the Constitutional Oath of Office and the
same shall be filed in written form with the Secretary of the Board.
Vacancies occurring on the Board from any county shall be filled by
appointment by the Governor of the State, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, for such unexpired term. Any person over the
age of 21 [twenty-one (21)] years, residing within the District and
within the county from which the person [he] is elected or
appointed, and possessing the qualifications of a juror shall be
eligible to be elected or appointed and to serve as a director.
SECTION 5. Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1937, is amended by adding Sections 13-a, 13-b,
13-c, and 13-d to read as follows:
Sec. 13-a. TRAINING FOR BOARD MEMBERS. (a) A person who is
elected or appointed to and qualifies for office as a member of the
Board may not vote, deliberate, or be counted as a member in
attendance at a meeting of the Board until the person completes a
training program that complies with this section.
(b) The training program must provide the person with
information regarding:
(1) the law governing the District's operations;
(2) the programs, functions, rules, and budget of the
District;
(3) the scope of and limitations on the rulemaking
authority of the Board;
(4) the results of the most recent formal audit of the
District;
(5) the requirements of:
(A) laws relating to open meetings, public
information, administrative procedure, and disclosing conflicts of
interest; and
(B) other laws applicable to members of the
governing body of a river authority in performing their duties; and
(6) any applicable ethics policies adopted by the
District or the Texas Ethics Commission.
(c) A person elected or appointed to the Board is entitled
to reimbursement for the travel expenses incurred in attending the
training program regardless of whether the attendance at the
program occurs before or after the person qualifies for office.
(d) The Manager of the District shall create a training
manual that includes the information required by Subsection (b) of
this section. The Manager of the District shall distribute a copy
of the training manual annually to each member of the Board. Each
member of the Board shall sign and submit to the Manager of the
District a statement acknowledging that the member received and
reviewed the training manual.
Sec. 13-b. POLICIES TO SEPARATE POLICY-MAKING AND STAFF
FUNCTIONS. The Board shall develop and implement policies that
clearly separate the policy-making responsibilities of the Board
and the management responsibilities of the Manager and the staff of
the District.
Sec. 13-c. PUBLIC TESTIMONY AT BOARD MEETINGS. The Board
shall develop and implement policies that provide the public with a
reasonable opportunity to appear before the Board and to speak on
any issue under the jurisdiction of the District.
Sec. 13-d. COMPLAINT INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS. (a) The
District shall maintain a system to promptly and efficiently act on
complaints filed with the District. The District shall maintain
information about parties to the complaint, the subject matter of
the complaint, a summary of the results of the review or
investigation of the complaint, and its disposition.
(b) The District shall make information available
describing its procedures for complaint investigation and
resolution.
(c) The District shall periodically notify the complaint
parties of the status of the complaint until final disposition
unless the notice would jeopardize an investigation.
SECTION 6. Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1937, is amended by adding Section 14-b to read as
follows:
Sec. 14-b. FISCAL YEAR. The District's fiscal year ends on
September 30 of each year.
SECTION 7. Section 15-a, Chapter 276, Acts of the 45th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-a. TAXATION. Subject to the limitation as to the
maximum rate of tax as prescribed in this Section, the District may
levy and collect throughout the territory of the District such ad
valorem taxes as are voted at an election or elections called by the
Board for that purpose and conducted throughout the territory of
the District. The maximum rate of tax which can be levied and
collected for any year shall be two cents (2¢) on the One Hundred
Dollars ($100) of taxable property based on its assessed valuation,
in accordance with the following conditions and procedures:
(a) The Board of Directors of the District may, by
ordinance, call an election to submit to the voters for approval
such taxation; provided that a public hearing to discuss the
proposed tax issue shall be held in each county in the District,
said public hearing to be held not less than ten (10) days nor more
than twenty-five (25) days prior to the scheduled date of any such
election, and said hearings shall be called by the Board of
Directors of the District and notice of the time, day, date, place
and purpose of said meeting shall be given by publishing said notice
in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation in each county
where the meeting is to be held at least ten (10) days prior to such
hearing;
(b) Only qualified electors, owning taxable property within
the boundaries of the District and who have duly rendered their
property for taxation shall be entitled to vote in any such
election. An elector otherwise qualified must vote in the county of
his residence and at the polling place designated for the precinct
of his residence. The ordinance calling the election shall specify
the polling place or places in each of the several counties. The
notice of election will be sufficient as to any county within the
District if it states that the election is to be held throughout the
territory comprising the District and if it specifies the polling
place or places in such county. But it shall not be necessary to
publish such details except in the county in which they are
applicable;
(c) Returns of the election shall be made to the Board, and
the Board shall canvass the returns of the election and adopt an
ordinance declaring the results thereof. The Board may levy taxes
within the maximum rate thus voted if a majority of the votes cast
throughout the District are in favor of the levy of the tax and if a
majority of the votes cast in any three (3) counties in the District
are in favor of the levy of the tax;
(d) The rate of tax shall be uniform throughout the
territory comprising the District, and shall be certified by the
Chairman and the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the District
to the Tax Assessor and the Tax Collector of each included county;
(e) After an election has resulted favorably to the levy of
a tax, the Board of Directors may borrow money payable therefrom and
may evidence such loan by a negotiable note given in the name of the
District;
(f) Any taxes thus collected shall be used for the purpose
of general administration[, preparation of the Master Plan provided
for in Section 4-a,] and for [other] planning and other services
with respect to any of the purposes, rights, privileges and
functions of the District; provided, however, that none of the
taxes thus collected shall be used to pay for or finance the
construction of any dams, reservoirs, levees, channels, pipelines
or other major physical works of the District, or pay for the cost
of any right-of-way acquisitions, or the expenses of right-of-way
acquisition, or damages awarded by any Court under Article 1,
Section 17, of the Constitution of the State of Texas. It is the
intent of this Act that any taxes thus collected will enable the
District to accomplish its purposes, including [develop a Master
Plan for] the maximum development of the soil and water resources of
the District, it [is] being hereby found and determined that the
benefits to be realized from such maximum development can be
obtained only through area-wide participation and planning. It is
the intent of this Act that the construction of any dams,
reservoirs, levees, channels, pipelines or other major physical
works of the District shall be paid for or financed by revenue bonds
of the District to be redeemed either by the sale of services or by
taxes to be levied by a county or municipality and paid over to the
District as an independent contractor of said county or
municipality. It is likewise the intent of this Act that any taxes
thus collected may be used to pay for the operation, repair and/or
maintenance of any flood control, soil conservation, watershed
protection and/or erosion structures or works of improvement
constructed in cooperation with the Federal Government; provided,
however, that any such operation, repair and/or maintenance costs
shall be paid for out of taxes thus collected in the county in which
the particular structure or work of improvement is situated. It is
further the intent of this Act that the taxes authorized by this
Section 15-a thus collected shall not be pledged to the redemption
of any bonds of the District.
SECTION 8. Sections 4-a and 14-a, Chapter 276, Acts of the
45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, are repealed.
SECTION 9. (a) The change in law made by this Act to the
terms of the directors of the San Antonio River Authority applies
only to the term of a director who is appointed or elected on or
after the effective date of this Act.
(b) The directors elected at the election held on the
uniform election date in November 2023 shall draw lots to determine
which director serves a term of four years and which director serves
a term of two years.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 13-a, Chapter 276, Acts of the
45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, as added by this Act, a
person serving on the board of directors of the district may vote,
deliberate, and be counted as a director in attendance at a meeting
of the board until December 1, 2023.
SECTION 10. (a) The legal notice of the intention to
introduce this Act, setting forth the general substance of this
Act, has been published as provided by law, and the notice and a
copy of this Act have been furnished to all persons, agencies,
officials, or entities to which they are required to be furnished
under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313,
Government Code.
(b) The governor, one of the required recipients, has
submitted the notice and Act to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives within the required time.
(d) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
SECTION 11. 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, 2023.