HBA-NMO H.B. 1573 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1573
By: Bailey
Natural Resources
4/12/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, water and sewer services may be needed in the unincorporated
areas of Harris County. H.B. 1573 requires a county with a population of
2.8 million (currently applying only to Harris County) to implement a water
and sewer service plan in the unincorporated areas of the county. Provides
an administrative penalty for a county that fails to comply with this
provision. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 412, Local Government Code, by
adding Section 412.016, as follows: 
 
Sec. 412.016.  WATER AND SEWER SERVICE FOR UNINCORPORATED AREA IN POPULOUS
COUNTY. (a)  Provides that this section applies only to the unincorporated
area that is located in  a county with a population of more than 2.8
million and in which a residential building without water or sewer service
is located.  
 
(b)  Requires the commissioners court of the county, by order, to adopt a
service plan that identifies all residential buildings in the
unincorporated area that do not have water or sewer service; establishes a
procedure for providing water or sewer service to the buildings; prescribes
a 10-year timetable for providing the water or sewer service using a
reasonable priority system based on the certain enumerated factors;
establishes a procedure for revising the service plan at regular intervals
to reflect changes in the enumerated factors; and includes a capital
improvements plan that commits the necessary financing.  
 
(c)  Authorizes the service plan to require property owners to connect to
service lines constructed to serve the area in which their property is
located; and relieve the county from an obligation to provide water or
sewer service to buildings in an area if a majority of residents in the
area sign and submit a petition to the commissioners court stating they do
not want to receive water or sewer service from the county.  
 
(d)  Requires a county to provide water or sewer service as provided by the
service plan on or before January 1, 2010, if the county has the population
prescribed by Subsection (a) under the 1990 federal decennial census; or
the 10th anniversary of the date on which the official data of the federal
decennial census is made public by the United States Bureau of the Census
showing that the county has the population prescribed by Subsection (a), if
the county first acquires that population under a federal decennial census
after the 1990 census.  
 
(e)  Requires the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to
impose an administrative penalty on a county of $1,000 for each day
following the deadline provided by Subsection (d) that a county fails to
comply with this section.  Requires  TNRCC to deposit the penalty to the
credit of the water resource management account to be used to provide water
or sewer service to residents of the county.  Requires TNRCC to adopt
procedures necessary to implement this subsection.  
 
SECTION 2.  Requires a county that on the effective date of this Act is
subject to Section 412.016, Local Government Code, to adopt a service plan
as provided by that section on or before January 1, 2000.  
 
SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.
Effective date: upon passage.