HBA-BSM H.B. 2404 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2404
By: Lewis, Ron
Natural Resources
3/15/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, apartments can include water charges in the rent,
allocate their water bills by dividing it among tenants by number of
occupants, and, or square footage.  Submetering water service in
multifamily housing reduces water consumption approximately between 10 and
30 percent.  If the apartment management is responsible for paying the
water bills they have an incentive to replace old wasteful fixtures with
high efficiency fixtures.  However, tenants often do not have the finances
to upgrade these fixtures or the incentive as they do not own the property.
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission has revised rules
governing submetering, but did not have the legislative authority to
enforce its proposals.  

House Bill 2404 encourages apartments that pass along their water charges
to their residents to do it through submetering, rather than allocation and
would require the multifamily management to have high efficiency fixtures
installed.  H.B. 2404 would promote water conservation in multi-family
housing and ensure equitable billing methods for tenants of multi-family
housing.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission in SECTIONS 1 and 2 (Section 13.502, 13.506, Water Code) of this
bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2404 amends the Water Code to require the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission (TNRCC) by rule to require an owner of an apartment
house on which construction begins on or after January 1, 2003, a
manufactured home rental community owner, and a multiple use facility owner
to submeter each dwelling unit or rental unit for the measurement of the
quantity of water.  An owner of an apartment house on which construction
began before January 1, 2003, and a condominium manager are authorized to
provide for submetering of each dwelling unit or rental unit for the
measurement of the quantity of water, if any, consumed by the occupants of
that unit. 

The bill requires the TNRCC by rule to require an apartment house owner,
manufactured home rental community owner, multiple use facility owner, or
condominium manager to install plumbing fixtures that meet existing
standards in the dwelling units and rental units that are not individually
metered. 

The TNRCC are required to enact rules to implement changes made, not later
than January 1, 2002.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

Submetering provisions take effect on September 1, 2001.  Plumbing fixtures
provisions take effect January 1, 2003.