| (a) Application. A water supply or sewer service corporation
or a water and sewer utility owned by an entity required to possess
a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) must comply with
this section. A municipality, district, or political subdivision may,
but is not required to, comply with this section.
(b) Notice and filing requirements for approval of
transaction. No later than 120 days before the effective date of any
sale, transfer, merger, consolidation, acquisition, lease, or rental,
an applicant must file an application with the commission and give
public notice of the transaction in accordance with this section.
Notice is considered given under this subsection on the later of:
(1) the last date the applicant mailed the required
notice as stated in the applicant's affidavit of notice; or
(2) the last date of the publication of the notice
in the newspaper as stated in the affidavit of publication, if required.
(c) Transaction involving a municipal utility system.
A transaction involving the sale of a municipal utility system to
an entity to which this section applies must comply with this subsection.
For purposes of this subsection, a municipal utility system means
one or more retail water or sewer utility systems that comprise all
or part of the facilities used by a municipally owned utility to provide
retail water or sewer utility service. If the municipal utility system
being acquired does not include all of the facilities used by the
municipally owned utility to provide retail water or sewer utility
service, the applicant must provide sufficient detail in its application
to identify the specific retail water or utility systems and facilities
being acquired.
(1) A water supply or sewer service corporation or
a water and sewer utility required to possess a CCN may purchase a
municipal utility system if:
(A) the sale has been authorized by a majority vote
of the qualified voters of the municipality in an election held by
the governing body of the municipality in the manner provided for
bond elections in the municipality including, if applicable, Tex.
Gov't Code Title 9, Subtitle C, Chapter 1251; or
(B) the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
has issued a notice of violation to the municipality for one or more
of the retail water or sewer systems that comprise the municipal utility
system, and the governing body of the municipality finds by official
action that the municipality is either financially or technically
unable to restore the retail water or sewer system or systems to compliance
with the rules or statutes cited in the notice of violation. For purposes
of this section, any official written notification from the TCEQ,
such as a notice of violation letter, a notice of enforcement letter,
or a field citation, that a retail water or sewer system is out of
compliance with a rule or statute within the TCEQ's jurisdiction will
be considered a notice of violation.
(2) For a sale authorized under paragraph (1)(A) of
this subsection, the applicant must include with its application documentation
that the sale was authorized by a majority vote in compliance with
the requirements of this section.
(3) For a sale authorized under paragraph (1)(B) of
this subsection, the applicant must provide notice to the TCEQ of
the transaction in writing. For a sale authorized under paragraph
(1)(B) of this subsection, the applicant must also include the following
information to the commission as a part of its application:
(A) a copy of the notice of violation issued by the
TCEQ involving the municipal utility system;
(B) a copy of the written notice provided to the TCEQ
as required by this paragraph; and
(C) documentation of the official action taken by the
governing body of the municipality finding the municipality is financially
or technically unable to restore the municipal utility system to compliance
with the rules or statutes cited in the notice of violation.
(d) Intervention period. The intervention period for
an application filed under this section must not be less than 30 days.
The presiding officer may order a shorter intervention period for
good cause shown.
(e) Notice.
(1) Unless notice is waived by the commission, proper
notice must be given to affected customers and to other affected parties
as required by the commission on the form prescribed by the commission.
The notice must include the following:
(A) the name and business address of the utility currently
holding the CCN (transferor) and the retail public utility or person
that will acquire the facilities or CCN (transferee);
(B) a description of the requested area;
(C) the following statement: "Persons who wish to intervene
in the proceeding or comment upon the action sought should contact
the Public Utility Commission, P.O. Box 13326, Austin, Texas 78711-3326,
or call the Public Utility Commission at (512) 936-7120 or (888) 782-8477.
Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals with text telephones (TTY)
may contact the commission through Relay Texas at 1-800-735-2989.
The deadline for intervention in the proceeding is (date 30 days from
the mailing or publication of notice, whichever occurs later, unless
otherwise provided by the presiding officer). If you wish to intervene,
the commission must receive your letter requesting intervention or
motion to intervene by that date."; and
(D) if the transferor is a nonfunctioning utility with
a temporary rate in effect and the transferee is requesting that the
temporary rate remain in effect under TWC §13.046(d), the following
information:
(i) the temporary rates currently in effect for the
nonfunctioning utility; and
(ii) the duration of time for which the transferee
is requesting that the temporary rates remain in effect.
(E) if the transferor is a municipality, the notice
must also provide the following information as an attachment, as applicable:
(i) If subsection (c)(1)(A) of this section applies,
a statement describing the details of the authorizing election, including
the date and outcome of the election and the text of the applicable
ballot provision.
(ii) If subsection (c)(1)(B) of this section applies,
a statement:
(I) indicating that the TCEQ has issued a notice of
violation for one or more systems within the municipal utility system
and that the governing board of the municipality has found that it
is either financially or technically unable to restore the system
to compliance with the applicable rules or statutes;
(II) providing a basic description of the violations
cited in the notice of violation, including the systems involved,
the nature of the violations, and the rules or statutes cited in the
notice of violation; and
(III) describing the details of the official action
of the governing board including the date and forum in which the official
action was taken and how to locate a transcript or recording of the
official action, if available.
(2) The transferee must mail the notice to cities and
neighboring retail public utilities providing the same utility service
whose corporate limits or certificated service area boundaries are
within two miles from the outer boundary of the requested area, and
any city with an extraterritorial jurisdiction that overlaps the requested
area.
(3) The commission may require the transferee to publish
notice once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in each county in which the retail public utility
being transferred is located. The commission may allow published notice
in lieu of individual notice as required by paragraph (2) of this
subsection.
(4) The commission may waive published notice if the
requested area does not include unserved area, or for good cause shown.
(f) If the transferee cannot demonstrate adequate financial
capability, the commission may require that the transferee provide
financial assurance to ensure continuous and adequate retail water
or sewer utility service is provided to both the requested area and
any area already being served under the transferee's existing CCN.
The commission will set the amount of financial assurance. The form
of the financial assurance must meet the requirements of §24.11
of this title (relating to Financial Assurance). The obligation to
obtain financial assurance under this title does not relieve an applicant
from any requirements to obtain financial assurance to satisfy another
state agency's rules.
(g) The commission will, with or without a public hearing,
investigate the sale, transfer, merger, consolidation, acquisition,
lease, or rental to determine whether the transaction will serve the
public interest. If the commission decides to hold a hearing, or if
the transferee fails either to file the application as required or
to provide public notice, the transaction proposed in the application
may not be completed unless the commission determines that the proposed
transaction serves the public interest.
Cont'd... |
