Septmnber 3, 1976 

The Honorable Joe Resweber 

County Attorney 

Harris County Courthouse 

Houston, Texas 77002 

Opinion No. H-875 

Re: Authority of Harris 

County Commissioners 

Court to regulate rates 

of private water companies 

in Harris County after 

September 1, 1976. 

Dear Mr. Resweber: 

Your question involves the relationship of article 

1446c, V.T.C.S., creating the Public Utility Commission of 

Texas, to article 2372q-1, V.T.C.S., authorizing the commis- 

/-- sioners courts in counties with a population of more than 

1,500,OOO to regulate the rates of private water companies 

under certain circumstances. Both statutes were enacted in 

the same session of the Legislature in 1975. You ask: 

Will the Harris County Commissioners Court's 

regulatory authority over private water 

companies, as is presently provided by 

article 2372q-1, V.A.T.S., terminate after 

September 1, 1976. 

Section 2 of the new statute conferring authority upon 

commissioners courts, article 2372q-1, reads: 

Sec.2. (a) The rates and services 

of a private water company in a county 

with a population of more than 1,500,000, 

according to the last preceding federal 

census, shall be regulated by the commissioners court as provided in this 

Act, if: 

P 

p. 3686 
The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 2 (H-875) 

(1) the private water company is 

charging or proposes to charge residential rates in any service area which 

exceed by 30 percent or more the highest 

residential rates charged by the water 

department of the largest city in the 

county; or 

(2) a petition is submitted to the 

commissioners court signed by at least 

30 percent of the persons residing, 

according to the last preceding federal 

census, in one or more of the service 

areas served by a private water company 

requesting that the commissioners court 

exercise regulatory authority over the 

company serving them. 

. . . . 

Standing by itself, article 2372q-1 appears to authorize 

the Harris County Commissioners Court to regulate private 

water companies selling water in Harris County. Rut the 

Public Utility Regulatory Act, article 1446c, reads in 

pertinent part: 

Set, 3. 

. . . 

Cc) The term 'public utility' or 

'utility,' when used in this Act, includes 

any person, corporation, river authority, 

cooperative corporation, or any combination 

thereof, other than a municipal corporation. . . 

owning or operating for compensation in this 

state equipment or facilities for: 

. . . 

(4) the transmitting, storing, 

distributing, selling, or furnishing of 

potable water to the public or for 

resale to the public for any use, or the 

-. 

pe 3687 
The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 3 (H-875) 

collection, transportation, treatment, 

or disposal of sewage, or other operation 

of a sewage disposal service for the 

public, other than equipment or facilities 

owned and operated for either purpose by 

a city, town, or other political subdivision 

of this state. . . . 

. . . 

Sec. 16. The commission has the 

general power to regulate and supervise 

the business of every public utility 

within its jurisdiction and to do all 

things, whether specifically designated 

in this Act or implied herein, necessary 

and convenient to the exercise of this 

power and jurisdiction. . . . 

Sec. 17. 

. . . 

(e) The commission shall have exclusive 

original jurisdiction over electric, 

water, and sewer utility rates, operations, 

and services not within the incorporated 

limits of a municipality exercising 

exclusive original jurisdiction over 

those rates, operations, and services as 

provided in this Act. 

. . . 

Sec. 07. (a) The regulatory authority 

shall assume jurisdiction and all powers 

and duties of regulation under this Act on 

January 1, 1976, except as provided in 

Subsection (b) of this section. 

(b) The regulatory authority shall assume 

jurisdiction over rates and service of public 

utilities on September 1, 1976. 

. . . 

p. 3688 
The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 4 (H-875) 

Sec. 90. (a) [Various specific statutes] 

and all other laws and parts of laws in 

conflict with this Act are repealed effective 

September 1, 1976. 

(b) All rules and regulations promulgated 

by regulatory authorities in the exercise 

of their jurisdiction over public utilities, 

as defined in this Act, shall remain in effect 

until such time as the commission or railroad 

commission promulgates provisions applicable 

to the exercise of the commission's or railroad commission's jurisdiction over public 

utilities. 

It is apparent that the Public Utility Regulatory Act, 

article 1446c, V.T.C.S., was intended as a comprehensive 

statute which would provide the exclusive means of regulating 

certain types of utilities. Id. at 5 17(e). Given the 

comprehensive nature of the Arand the general repealer 

found in section 90, it is our opinion that the Public 

Utility Regulatory Act is intended to repeal article 2372q1. See 53 Tex.Jur.Zd, Statutes 9 110. However, any repeal 

is enctive only as stated in section 90 of the Act, which 

provides for repeal of conflicting statutes on September 1, 

1976. 

Thus, the authority conferred upon commissioners courts 

by article 2372q-1 was replaced by the primary power vested 

in the Texas Public Utilities Commission by sections 16 and 

17(e) of the Public Utility Regulatory Act when the Commission 

assumed its regulatory powers on September 1, 1976. Any 

rules and regulations validly promulgated by the Commissioners 

Court of Harris County will continue in effect until superseded 

by regulations of the Texas Public Utilities Commission. 

SUMMARY 

The authority conferred upon commissioners 

courts by article 2372q-1, V.T.C.S., was 

replaced by the primary power vested 

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p. 3689 
. . 

I 

The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 5 (H-875) 

in the Texas Public Utilities Commission by 

article 1446c, sections 16 and 17(e), V.T.C.S., 

when the Texas Public Utilities Commission 

assumed its regulatory powers on September 1, 

1976. 

Very truly yours, 

General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant 

Opinion Committee 

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p. 3690