|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the transfer of a certificate of convenience and |
|
necessity in certain municipalities. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 552, Local Government |
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 552.024 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 552.024. TRANSFER OF CERTIFICATE OF CONVENIENCE AND |
|
NECESSITY IN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES. (a) This section applies to a |
|
municipality that: |
|
(1) has a population of not more than 2,500; |
|
(2) is located in a county that: |
|
(A) has a population of 1.7 million or more; and |
|
(B) has two municipalities with a population of |
|
300,000 or more; and |
|
(3) is served by a public utility that: |
|
(A) provides service to the entire municipality; |
|
and |
|
(B) charges rates for 5,000 gallons of water for |
|
residential customers that are at least 50 percent higher than the |
|
rates charged by a municipally owned utility that serves another |
|
part of the county in which the municipality is located. |
|
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, on application by a |
|
municipality described by Subsection (a), the agency with authority |
|
over certificates of convenience and necessity for water and sewer |
|
service shall transfer a certificate of convenience and necessity |
|
for water and sewer service from a public utility to the |
|
municipality for the public utility's service area located in the |
|
municipality's corporate limits, if the municipality: |
|
(1) is willing to provide continuous and adequate |
|
water and sewer service to the area; and |
|
(2) has instituted a condemnation proceeding under |
|
Chapter 21, Property Code, to acquire the property of the public |
|
utility's water and sewer system in the municipality's corporate |
|
limits. |
|
(c) The transfer is effective on the date the court in which |
|
the condemnation proceeding is pending issues an order that: |
|
(1) transfers the property of the public utility to |
|
the municipality; and |
|
(2) requires the municipality to ensure continuous and |
|
adequate water and sewer service to the citizens of the |
|
municipality. |
|
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
|
a condemnation proceeding in which the petition is filed on or after |
|
September 1, 2011. A condemnation proceeding in which the petition |
|
is filed before September 1, 2011, is governed by the law in effect |
|
on the date the petition was filed, and that law is continued in |
|
effect for that purpose. |
|
SECTION 3. 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, 2013. |