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Home My WebLink AboutResolution - 042271N - Support Amendment #4, Section 49-D-1 To Article III Of The Texas Constitution - 04/22/1971A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING AMENDMENT NO. 4 WHEREAS, the 62nd Texas Legislature, at its Regular Session, 1971, has passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 17, a proposed amendment to add a new Section 49-d-1 to Article III of the Texas Constitution; and WHEREAS, said proposed amendment will appear on the ballot at a Special Election to be held on May 18, 1971, as Amendment No. 4; and WHEREAS, proposed Amendment No. 4 will permit the Texas Water De- velopment Board, on direction of the Texas Water Quality Board, to issue ad- ditional water development bonds up to $100 million for use in providing grants, loans, or combinations thereof, to cities, towns, and political subdivisions, so that these entities may qualify for Federal matching funds for water quality enhancement programs; and WHEREAS, the proposed Amendment No. 4 provides that bonds author- ized under this new Section 49-d-1 and all bonds authorized by Sections 49-c and 49-d of Article III, Texas Constitution, may bear interest at not more than 6%, instead of the existing rate of 4%; and WHEREAS, the adoption by the people of proposed Amendment No. 4 would make it possible for the State of Texas to realize a greater return on tax dollars now going to Washington, since the Federal matching share of costs would increase from a maximum of 33% to 55%, as the State enters the program with grants and loans; and WHEREAS, the increase in the maximum interest rate from 4% to 6%, - as provided in Amendment No. 4, will make it possible for the Water Develop- ment Board to sell its bonds in today's competitive bond market; and WHEREAS, the passage of the proposed Amendment No. 4 would make more funds available to assist local government in providing facilities to adequately treat and dispose of their wastes, thereby enhancing the quality and quantity of the State's water, and lifting some of the tax load from al- ready overburdened city taxpayers; NOW THEREFORE: BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LUBBOCK that it endorses Amendment No. 4 on the ballot at the Special Election to be held on May 18, 1971. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council urges the citizens to go to the polls on May 18, 1971, and vote for the pas&5n of Amendment No. 4. PASS AND APPROVED, this 22nd daT71. G� J. Lr. G ANBERRY, ATTEST: Lave&a Lowe, City S betary-Treasurer APPROVED AS TO FORM: Fred O. Sen er, Jr., City orney Iw e fir/ r7l � Ow(D PUBLISHED BY THn TEXAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE* 601 VAUGHN BUILDING • AUSTIN, TEXAS 787016512478-6601 April 16, 1971: Vol. 24, No. 13 Clean Water Campaign Underway. Work on the campaign to boost passage of Amendment #4 on the May 18th special constitutional amendment election began this past week with the development of materials and guidelines for disseminating information about this most important. program. The cities of Texas --which will be the principal beneficiaries of the $100 million loan fund for construction of waste water treatment facilities if Amendment #4 is passed by the voting public- will be in the vanguard of the campaign. In order to coordinate local campaign efforts, the Texas Municipal League has accepted the task of distributing information about Amendment #4 and providing other assistance, as needed, to help cities in their efforts to ,publicize its. benefits. _ The critical role which municipalities will play in this campaign cannot be overemphasized, and a great deal of hard, dedicated work must be done in the next few weeks if sufficient public interest to pass Amendment #4 is to be generated. The League, in cooperation with the Clean Water Committee, has deve- loped an informational package that will be distributed to cities within the next few days. The package contains suggestions for organizing local "clean water" campaigns, radio spot announcements and mail -out materials, a fact sheet (which is also suitable as speech material) describing the major aspects of Amendment #4, and a suggested timetable for action. Any supplemental infor- mation or answers to questions regarding the campaign will be provided by the League upon request. Plan to begin to organize your local campaign immediately. Immediate action must be ;taken to organize your citizens to support Amendment #4, which can be a cornerstone in the fight to protect and upgrade the quality of an essential and limited natural resource. Status of Collective Bargaining Legislation _Senate Bill 303 (Harrington), which proposes to provide collective bargaining rights, binding arbitration,.union.dues check -off -,.etc. for A public employees, has moved steadily up on the Senate calendar, and it is likely that a floor vote on this 'measure will be taken at some time in the coming few days. The propon- ents of S.B. 303 evidently fear that the bill could not pass either chamber in its present form, because they now are willing to exclude State employees from its provisions --which would leave cities, counties and other political subdi- visions 'of the State "holding the bag." Should an exclusionary amendment to this effect be offered, it would constitute a bizarre reversal.on the part of S.B. 303's supporters; for if, as the sponsors of this kind of legislation have consistentj_ said (at least up to this point), collective bargaining and the 0therrlrequiremeits of S.B. 303 are beneficial tools for all public employees, R Ewhy,woul'd this proposal suddenly not be good for State employees? Pose this question to you Senator when you write, telegraph or telephone him about S.B. 1C_ tfSenate ,-]�:L-11. 778 ;(Hall), which proposes to provide binding arbitration and col- lective ......bargaini' g rights for firemen, was favorably reported out of the Senate C^=J Gree-oar-Qmhty, District Urban Affairs this week. A highly controversial Y��1 I�� 77 77 VOTE FOR CLEAN WATER 4 MAY 18 CLEAN WATER FOR TEXAS COMMITTEE/ 801 Vaughn Building / Austin, Texas 78701 / Richard D. Brown, Chairman April 19, 1971 Honorable James H. Granberry, Mayor City of Lubbock 916 Texas Avenue Lubbock, Texas 79401 ;. • Dear Mayor: Passage of Amendment #4 --the Clean Water Amendment --will require the con- centrated efforts of every city official in Texas in the coming four weeks. Cities will have much at stake on May 18th] however, we cannot reasonably expect the voters of Texas to support this critical proposition unless we are willing to initiate a 100 per cent effort at the local level to promote its passage. '--Your "Clean Water for Texas" Committee has prepared a number of materials which can be put to good use in the local campaigns organized to develop public support of Amendment #4. Documents developed to date, and attached to this letter, includes (1) a step-by-step "action program," which out- -lines the activities necessary to get a sales program underway in your city= (2) a fact sheet which describes the purposes of Amendment #41 (3) a sample of the mail stuffers which are available from the Clean Water for Texas Committee headquarters: (4) a sample resolution which endorses Amendment #41 .and (5) the news release which last week was distributed to all of the news- papers and radio -TV stations of Texas. Use these materials, and begin today to organize an Amendment #4 campaign in your city. Your Clean Water Committee will offer you every possible assistance: complete the attached postcard to let us know how many stuffers and other materials you need, and let us know, too, what else we can do to help you move forward with your city's promotional program. The cities of Texas are the key to the success or failure of Amendment #4. Although the constitutional amendments election is but four weeks away, we still have time to organize and conduct effective local campaigns if every available day is used to advantage. We are ready to help you; just let us know what we can do. Sincerely, !F Richard D. Brown Chairman 16B=iJii s '18. .Enc j 4 Blackwell, City Hall