Sec. 104.374. PLEDGE OF STATE. (a) Customer rate relief bonds issued under this subchapter and any related ancillary agreements or credit agreements are not a debt or pledge of the faith and credit of this state or a state agency or political subdivision of this state. A customer rate relief bond, ancillary agreement, or credit agreement is payable solely from customer rate relief charges as provided by this subchapter.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), this state, including the railroad commission and the authority, pledges for the benefit and protection of the financing parties and the gas utility that this state will not take or permit any action that would impair the value of customer rate relief property, or, except as permitted by Section 104.370, reduce, alter, or impair the customer rate relief charges to be imposed, collected, and remitted to financing parties until the principal, interest and premium, and contracts to be performed in connection with the related customer rate relief bonds and financing costs have been paid and performed in full. Each issuing financing entity shall include this pledge in any documentation relating to customer rate relief bonds.
(c) Before the date that is two years and one day after the date that an issuing financing entity no longer has any payment obligation with respect to customer rate relief bonds, the issuing financing entity may not wind up or dissolve the financing entity's operations, may not file a voluntary petition under federal bankruptcy law, and neither the board of the issuing financing entity nor any public official nor any organization, entity, or other person may authorize the issuing financing entity to be or to become a debtor under federal bankruptcy law during that period. The state covenants that it will not limit or alter the denial of authority under this subsection, and the provisions of this subsection are hereby made a part of the contractual obligation that is subject to the state pledge made in this section.
Added by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 805 (H.B. 1520), Sec. 5, eff. June 16, 2021.
Structure Texas Statutes
Subtitle A - Gas Utility Regulatory Act
Chapter 104 - Rates and Services
Subchapter I. Customer Rate Relief Bonds
Section 104.361. Purpose; Railroad Commission Duty
Section 104.363. Extraordinary Costs
Section 104.364. Jurisdiction and Powers of Railroad Commission and Other Regulatory Authorities
Section 104.365. Regulatory Asset Determination
Section 104.366. Financing Orders and Issuance of Customer Rate Relief Bonds
Section 104.367. Property Rights
Section 104.368. Property Interest Not Subject to Setoff, Counterclaim, Surcharge, or Defense
Section 104.369. Customer Rate Relief Charges Nonbypassable
Section 104.370. True-Up Mechanism
Section 104.371. Security Interests; Assignment; Commingling; Default
Section 104.372. Bond Proceeds in Trust
Section 104.373. Repayment of Customer Rate Relief Bonds
Section 104.374. Pledge of State
Section 104.375. Tax Exemption
Section 104.376. Recoverable Tax Expense
Section 104.377. Issuing Financing Entity or Financing Party Not Public Utility
Section 104.378. No Personal Liability