Opinion ID: 1758648
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The ECCA

Text: The powers of electric cooperatives are solely derived from, and therefore measured by, the Act which created them. Upshur Rural Elec. Coop. Corp., 298 S.W.2d at 807. The ECCA states that the act is complete in itself and is controlling. Tex. Util.Code § 161.005. To frame the parties' arguments, then, we briefly review the ECCA's provisions establishing electric cooperative corporations' purposes and powers in the original 1937 Act and in H.B. 3203. Section 3 of the 1937 ECCA, entitled Purpose, provided that electric cooperatives could be organized for the purpose of engaging in rural electrification. Act of March 30, 1937, 45th Leg., R.S., ch. 86, § 3, 1937 Tex. Gen. Laws 161, 162. Section 4 granted electric cooperatives certain powers, including the right to purchase and own any and all real and personal property, and all powers as may be necessary, convenient, or appropriate to effectuate the purpose for which the corporation is organized. Id. § 4, 1937 Tex. Gen. Laws at 637. In 1957, the Legislature amended slightly the Purpose provision but still authorized ECCA cooperatives to engage in rural electrification. Act of May 8, 1957, 55th Leg., R.S., ch. 290, § 3, 1957 Tex. Gen. Laws 692, 692. These statutes were published as article 1528b of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes. They were repealed in 1997 when the Legislature promulgated the Texas Utilities Code. Act of May 8, 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 9, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws 713, 1018. The statute codifying the Utilities Code does not contain an express statement of the purposes for which an electric cooperative may be organized, but, generally, codification intends no substantive change. Id. § 1, 1997 Tex. Gen. Laws at 715. Consequently, under the statute codifying the Texas Utilities Code, rural electrification remained the only purpose for which an electric cooperative could be organized. B