This section ratifies the compact, lets additional state water authorities sign it, and gives signatories power to carry out the compact and issue bonds.
Sec. 26.043. THE STATE OF TEXAS WATER POLLUTION CONTROL COMPACT. (a) The legislature recognizes that various river authorities and municipal water districts and authorities of the state have signed, and that others are authorized to sign and may sign, a document entitled "The State of Texas Water Pollution Control Compact" (hereinafter called the "compact"), which was approved by Order of the Texas Water Quality Board on March 26, 1971, and which is now on file in the official records of the commission, wherein each of the signatories is by law an official agency of the state, created pursuant to Article XVI, Section 59 of the Texas Constitution and operating on a multiple county or regional basis, and that collectively those signatories constitute an agency of the state authorized to agree to pay, and to pay, for and on behalf of the state not less than 25 percent of the estimated costs of all water pollution control projects in the state, wherever located, for which federal grants are to be made pursuant to Clause (7), Subsection (b), Section 1158, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. Section 1158), or any similar law, in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of the compact. The compact provides a method for taking advantage of increased federal grants for water pollution control projects by virtue of the state payment which will be made from the proceeds from the sale of bonds by the signatories to the compact. The compact is hereby ratified and approved, and it is hereby provided that Section 30.026 of this code shall not constitute a limitation or restriction on any signatory with respect to any contract entered into pursuant to the compact or with respect to any water pollution control project in the state, wherever located, for which the aforesaid federal grants are to be made, and such signatory shall not be required to obtain the consent of any other river authority or conservation and reclamation district which is not a signatory with respect to any such contract or project. Each signatory to the compact is empowered and authorized to do any and all things and to take any and all action and to execute any and all contracts and documents which are necessary or convenient in carrying out the purposes and objectives of the compact and issuing bonds pursuant thereto, with reference to any water pollution control project in the state, wherever located, for which the aforesaid federal grants are to be made. (b) It is further found, determined, and enacted that all bonds issued pursuant to said compact and all bonds issued to refund or refinance same are and will be for water quality enhancement purposes, within the meaning of Article III, Section 49-d-1, as amended, of the Texas Constitution and any and all bonds issued by a signatory to said compact to pay for all or any part of a project pursuant to the compact and any bonds issued to refund or refinance any such bonds may be purchased by the Texas Water Development Board with money received from the sale of Texas Water Development Board bonds pursuant to said Article III, Section 49-d-1, as amended, of the Texas Constitution. The bonds or refunding bonds shall be purchased directly from any such signatory at such price as is necessary to provide the state payment and any other part of the cost of the project or necessary to accomplish the refunding, and all purchases shall constitute loans for water quality enhancement. The bonds or refunding bonds shall have the characteristics and be issued on such terms and conditions as are acceptable to the board. The proceeds received by any such signatory from the sale of any such bonds shall be used to provide the state payment pursuant to the compact and any other part of the cost of the project, and the proceeds from the sale of any such refunding bonds to refund any outstanding bonds issued pursuant to the compact shall be used to pay off and retire the bonds being refunded thereby. (c) This subsection is not intended to interfere in any way with the operation of Article III, Section 49-d-1, as amended, of the Texas Constitution or the enabling legislation enacted pursuant thereto, and the aforesaid compact shall constitute merely a complementary or supplemental method for providing the state payment solely in instances that it is deemed necessary or advisable by the board. Amended by Acts 1977, 65th Leg., p. 2207, ch. 870, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1977; Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 977, Sec. 23, eff. June 19, 1987.