Page 92 - ABHR MUD BOOK 2022

Constitutional and Statutory History

of Water Districts in Texas

Year Change in Law
1876 Art. 3, Sec. 52 – Constitutional provision addressing lending of credit for state,
counties, cities/towns
1904 Art. 3, Sec. 52 – Constitutional amendment, adding provisions for the issuance
of debt by districts and limitation on amount of debt issued by specified
political subdivisions (1/4 of assessed valuation)
Pre-1911 General Law creating Navigation Districts (minimal powers, see 1921
legislation)
1911 General Law creating Drainage Districts
1913 General Law creating Irrigation Districts
1915 General Law creating Levee Improvement Districts
1917 Art. 16, Sec. 59 – Constitutional amendment, adding provisions regarding
conservation and reclamation districts
1917 General Law creating Water Improvement Districts (superseding prior law
regarding Irrigation Districts)
1918 General Law creating Conservation and Reclamation Districts, providing that
Special any Water Improvement District, Drainage District or Levee Improvement
Session District previously created may avail itself of the provisions of Article 16, Sec.
59 (Canales Act)
1918 General Law creating Water Control & Preservation Districts
Special
Session
1919 General Law creating Fresh Water Supply Districts
1921 General Law creating Navigation Districts
1925 General Law creating Water Control & Improvement Districts
1954 Texas Supreme Court ruling confirming constitutionality of exercise of sewer
powers by water districts under Art. 3, Sec. 52 and/or Art. 16, Sec. 59
1955 Creation of Harris County Improvement District No. 1 – first District used as a
financing mechanism for development purposes
1963 Passage of Municipal Annexation Act, setting forth procedures for annexation
and creating concept of extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ)
1970 Art. 3, Sec. 52 – Constitutional Amendment, adding subsection (c) regarding
road bonds
1971 Codification of prior water district law from Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes to
Water Code
1971 General Law creating Municipal Utility Districts (Chapter 54, Water Code),
powers include authority to dispose of solid waste
1977 General Law creating Irrigation Districts

Prepared by Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP, 2020