2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB790
SB790 lets the Public Utility Commission adopt a simpler way to resolve certain tenant complaints against property owners about water or wastewater bills.
Official caption: Relating to the procedure for resolving certain customer complaints before the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Alvarado. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- SB790 lets the Public Utility Commission adopt a simpler way to resolve certain tenant complaints against property owners about water or wastewater bills.
- The referenced provisions concern submetered billing, allocation of shared master-metered bills, and repayment of overcharges.
- A complaint resolved through the simplified procedure is exempt from Government Code Chapter 2001, the Administrative Procedure Act.
- Existing Section 13.505 already gives the commission exclusive jurisdiction over violations in this subchapter, provides an online and telephone complaint/hearing system, and requires repayment when the commission finds that an owner or condominium manager overcharged the complaining tenant for utility-supplied water or wastewater service.
What does it do?
SB790 lets the Public Utility Commission adopt a simpler way to resolve certain tenant complaints against property owners about water or wastewater bills. The commission may create the procedure by rule; the act does not itself supply a new complaint form, deadline or guaranteed refund. It covers complaints brought under Water Code Sections 13.503, 13.5031 or 13.505, not every dispute with a water utility. Signed June 20, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025. Final act; History.
The referenced provisions concern submetered billing, allocation of shared master-metered bills, and repayment of overcharges. They apply within the statutory framework for covered rental properties, including apartment houses, manufactured-home rental communities and multiple-use facilities. The new route is expressly for a tenant’s complaint against an owner about a water or wastewater bill; it is not a general rent-dispute process. Definitions and scope; Submetered billing; Allocated billing; Overcharge complaints and repayment.
A complaint resolved through the simplified procedure is exempt from Government Code Chapter 2001, the Administrative Procedure Act. That chapter ordinarily supplies agency procedures, including contested-case hearing and evidence rules and a route for judicial review. SB790 does not spell out replacement hearing or review procedures. The exemption applies to resolving complaints through this particular route, not to every commission proceeding; it should not be read as a statement that every possible legal challenge is forbidden. New Section 13.5051(b); Chapter purpose; Ordinary hearing provision; Ordinary evidence provision; Chapter’s judicial-review provision.
Existing Section 13.505 already gives the commission exclusive jurisdiction over violations in this subchapter, provides an online and telephone complaint/hearing system, and requires repayment when the commission finds that an owner or condominium manager overcharged the complaining tenant for utility-supplied water or wastewater service. SB790 adds procedural authority rather than changing the amount of the repayment remedy or rewriting the underlying billing limits. Existing complaint system and remedy; Added provision.
What changed along the way?
All five published versions—introduced, Senate committee, engrossed, House committee and enrolled—have the same operative provisions. The official amendment index lists no amendments, and the history shows passage without a floor amendment or conference rewrite. The final act retains “may,” so the commission receives authority rather than an unconditional command to create the simplified process. All versions; No indexed amendments; Passage history.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
A simpler process could reduce the burden of pursuing a relatively small billing complaint for tenants, owners and the commission. The tradeoff is that complaints on this route are outside Chapter 2001’s usual procedural framework, making the rules the commission chooses important. The act itself does not establish that complaints will be resolved faster, promise a successful refund, or document that an implementing rule is already operating. Authority and exemption.
The sole fiscal note listed with the bill, dated March 2 for the introduced version, anticipates no significant state or local-government fiscal impact and assumes state costs can be absorbed within existing resources. The unchanged operative text supports using that note while identifying its version; it does not quantify tenants’ savings. The House’s 95 affirmative votes fell below the threshold for immediate effect, so the September 1, 2025 fallback date applies. Available fiscal note; Certified votes and effective-date clause.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
