utility connection reservations get a 10-year expiration date

The text as introduced · 557 words

89R19638 TYPED

By: Schwertner
S.B. No. 2872

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to connection reservation contracts.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 49.001, Utilities Code, is amended to

read as follows:

Sec. 49.001. DEFINITIONS. (a) As used in this chapter:

(1) "District" means any district or authority created

by authority of either Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article III, or

Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, regardless of how

created. The term "district" shall not include any navigation

district or port authority created under general or special law,

any conservation and reclamation district created pursuant to

Chapter 62, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, 1951 (Article 8280-141,

Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any conservation and reclamation

district governed by Chapter 36 unless a special law creating the

district or amending the law creating the district states that this

chapter applies to that district.

(2) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource

Conservation Commission.

(3) "Board" means the governing body of a district.

(4) "Executive director" means the executive director

of the commission.

(5) "Water supply corporation" means a nonprofit water

supply or sewer service corporation created or operating under

Chapter 67.

(6) "Director" means either a supervisor or director

appointed or elected to the board.

(7) "Municipal solid waste" has the same meaning

assigned by Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code.

(8) "Special water authority" means a river authority

as that term is defined in Section 30.003, or a district created by

a special Act of the legislature that:

(A) is a provider of water or wastewater service

to two or more municipalities; and

(B) is governed by a board of directors appointed

or designated in whole or in part by the governor, the Texas Water

Development Board, or municipalities within its service area.

(9) "Potable water" means water that has been treated

for public drinking water supply purposes.

(10) "District facility" means tangible real and

personal property of the district, including any plant, equipment,

means, recreational facility as defined by Section 49.462, or

instrumentality owned, leased, operated, used, controlled,

furnished, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the business

or operations of a district. The term specifically includes a

reservoir or easement of a district.

(11) "Connection" means a standardized measure of

consumption, use, generation, or discharge attributable to an

individual unit of development calculated in accordance with

generally accepted engineering, or planning standards. Connections

may be described in terms of single family equivalent connections,

living unit of equivalents, or any other generally accepted unit of

consumption typically attributable to a single family household.

SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 49, Utilities Code, is

amended by adding Section 49.2131 to read as follows:

Sec. 49.2131. CONTRACTS VALID AND ENFORCEABLE. (a) A

contract between an individual and a municipality or special

utility district created for the purpose of reserving a connection

must include an expiration date of the term of the connection.

(b) The term of a connection may not exceed 10 years from the

date the connection was reserved.

(c) Not less than 30 days before the expiration of the term

of the connection, the municipality or special utility district

must provide notice to the individual who is a party to the contract

of the connection's forthcoming expiration date.

SECTION 3: This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.