Invisible Government: Special Purpose Districts in Texas - Senate

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SPOTLIGHT
failed to institute a lawsuit or must not be diligently
prosecuting a lawsuit against the same person for the
same violation.
TCEQ is statutorily authorized to allow a municipally
owned utility, a water supply or sewer service
corporation, or a district to defer the payment of all
or part of an administrative penalty for a violation
on the condition that the entity complies with all
provisions for corrective action in a commission order
to address the violation. A district under this section
is defined as any district or authority created under
either Section 52, Article III, or Section 59, Article
XVI, Texas Constitution, regardless of how created.
The term does not include any navigation district or
port authority created under general or special law or
any conservation and reclamation district governed
by Chapter 36 (Groundwater Conservation Districts),
Water Code, unless a special law creating the district
or amending the law creating the district states that
Chapter 49 (Provisions Applicable to all Districts), Water
Code, applies to the district.
ffWater Rates and Services
Chapter 13 (Water Rates and Services), Water Code,
establishes a comprehensive regulatory system for retail
public utilities to assure rates, operations, and services
that are just and reasonable to consumers and to retail
public utilities.
Under Chapter 13, ratepayers of a district or authority
created under Section 52, Article III, or Section 59,
Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that provides water or
sewer service to household users may appeal a decision
of the governing body of the entity affecting their water,
drainage, or sewer rates to TCEQ.
For rates charged by a municipality for water or sewer
service to a district created pursuant to Section 59, Article
XVI, Texas Constitution, and which is located within
the corporate limits or the extraterritorial jurisdiction
of the municipality, or to the residents of such district,
in the event that the municipality requires the district to
purchase water or sewer service from the municipality,
Chapter 13 stipulates the right of the district to appeal
the rates imposed by the municipality by filing a petition
with TCEQ. In such an appeal, the municipality has the
Special Purpose Districts
burden of proof to establish that the rates are just and
reasonable.
ffWater Development
Chapter 16 (Provisions Generally Applicable to Water
Development), Water Code, stipulates that groundwater
districts are the state’s preferred method of managing
groundwater resources. The statute requires drainage
districts and levee improvement districts, immediately
before having their bonds approved by the attorney
general, to file with TCEQ a complete report showing
each step in the organization of the district, the amount
of bonds to be issued, and a description of the area and
boundaries of the district, accompanied by plans, maps,
and profiles of improvements and the district engineer’s
estimates and reports on them.
Chapter 16 authorizes the Texas Water Development
Board, in connection with an application filed pursuant
to Subchapter K (Assistance to Economically Distressed
Areas for Water Supply and Sewer Service Projects),
Chapter 17 (Public Funding), Water Code, to consider
and make any necessary investigations and inquiries
as to the feasibility of creating a conservation and
reclamation district under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
Constitution, to provide, in lieu of financial assistance,
water supply and sewer services in the area covered by
the application through issuance of district bonds.
Political subdivisions that receive financial assistance
are authorized by Chapter 16 to charge persons in an
economically distressed area in which water supply
and sewer services are furnished an amount for those
services that is not less than the amount provided in the
application for financial assistance.
ffWater Quality Control
Chapter 26 (Water Quality Control), Water Code, limits
the liability of river authorities in the performance
of governmental functions related to the control and
elimination of noxious weeds, grasses, and vegetation
in the rivers, tributaries, impoundments, and reservoirs
of the state through the application of aquatic
herbicides.
Page 14 October 2008