Bill Caption

Fiscal Notes

Bill Analysis

(The second chamber sponsor is Senator Kohlkorst.)

HB 4168, if passed, would modify the Acts of the 59^th Legislature, regarding the Gulf Coast Water Authority. Two sets of changes would be introduced by the bill. The first set would be to permit the Gulf Coast Water Authority to enter into retail service agreements with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

The second set of changes modifies the requirements for the Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Water Authority. Currently the directors are to be chosen by the Galveston County Court in such a way that they “represent the geographic and ethnic diversity of the county” and that three members must be registered engineers under Texas law.

The new requirements would be that four directors be appointed by the Galveston County Court, two directors represent municipal interests, two represent industrial interests, and one represent the county at large. Furthermore, two directors would be appointed by the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, of whom represents municipal interests, and one of whom represents the county at large. And, three directors would be appointed by the Brazoria County Commissioners Court, one of whom represents agricultural interests, and one of whom represents industrial interests. 

EDIT: The senate committee report version of the bill adds an additional component which states that a director appointed under section 5(a) must represent an entity which is also a customer of the district in question.

Vote Recommendation Notes

The changes made by HB 4168 are mostly procedural. We agree that the Gulf Coast Water Authority should be able to enter into agreements with the Electricity Reliability Council. The changes to the composition of the Board of Directors is more of a mixed bag. Having directors appointed by multiple courts is beneficial. Requiring that multiple interests be present is probably beneficial in that various viewpoints could be heard, though potentially such a structure could exclude qualified candidates. Nevertheless, given that the bill essentially affects only government entities, it does not positively or negatively affect any of our principles. We are neutral on HB 4167.


EDIT: The addition made in the senate version is essentially procedural in nature and does not affect our neutral recommendation.