---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to retail public utilities that provide water or sewer service."
description: "Relating to retail public utilities that provide water or sewer service."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "SB 700"
citation: "Texas SB 700 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Utilities--Water & Sewer (I0002)", "WATER & SEWER SERVICE (S0443)", "ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY", "TEXAS COMMISSION ON (V0334)", "PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION (V0023)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Geren", "Nichols", "Watson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 49
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-07"
last_action: "2019-06-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/15090350-81cb-4bcc-9ac3-8cd5ffcb75ef"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00700_SB00799/SB 700.xml"
source_hash: "fe970820c1e0f80a83a7f0cb277db83cee1eea5dff99ffc54dd0fae64f4774ae"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas SB 700 (86) — Relating to retail public utilities that provide water or sewer service.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB00700I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **141–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Geren — primary (person)
- Nichols — primary (person)
- Watson — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-07** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing`
- **2019-02-07** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-01** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-01** Referred to Water & Rural Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-25** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-25** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-25** Testimony taken in committee
- **2019-03-27** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-27** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-03-27** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-04-08** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-04-09** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2019-04-09** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
- **2019-04-09** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-09** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-04-09** Record vote
- **2019-04-09** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-04-09** Passed `passage`
- **2019-04-09** Record vote
- **2019-04-09** Reported engrossed
- **2019-04-10** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2019-04-11** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-11** Referred to Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-17** Considered in formal meeting
- **2019-04-17** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-23** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-04-24** Committee report distributed
- **2019-04-24** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-05-14** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-05-16** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-05-16** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-16** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-16** Passed to 3rd reading as amended
- **2019-05-17** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-17** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-17** Record vote
- **2019-05-17** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-17** House passage as amended reported
- **2019-05-21** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-21** Read
- **2019-05-21** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)
- **2019-05-21** Record vote
- **2019-05-21** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported
- **2019-05-21** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-23** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-25** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-25** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-14** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-14** Effective on 9/1/19 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/15090350-81cb-4bcc-9ac3-8cd5ffcb75ef`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).