SB330 Alabama 2025 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Dan RobertsSenator

Republican

Session

2025 Regular Session

Title

Certain municipal water works boards reconstituted, operating procedures further provided for

Summary

SB330 reconstitutes certain municipal water works boards into regional boards with new governance, transparency, and oversight requirements, and sets a framework for conversion and operation.

What This Bill Does

The bill converts eligible municipal water works boards into regional boards with a defined seven-member governance structure, appointing directors from various state and local authorities and requiring five-year terms. It imposes ethics training, mandates the retention of a consulting engineer, and requires detailed public financial and statistical reporting, along with rate oversight to ensure reasonable charges. It also repeals old provisions and establishes new rules for amendments, enforcement, and governance during and after the conversion.

Who It Affects

• Municipal water works boards that serve four or more counties (and the communities and customers they serve), who would become regional boards with new composition, duties, and reporting requirements.
• Public officials and state/local entities that appoint directors (mayors, county officials, the Lieutenant Governor, the Governor, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State) and those involved in nominations and oversight, who would administer appointments, enforce the new ethics and governance provisions, and handle disputes.

Key Provisions

• Converts eligible municipal water works boards into regional boards and sets criteria for conversion date and timing.
• Creates a regional board with seven directors: financial background; engineering background; general business background; and appointments by sponsoring mayor, Lieutenant Governor, county bodies, Governor, and authorizing municipality, with residency and qualification requirements.
• Directors serve five-year terms with staggered initial terms; limits on serving more than two full terms; provisions for filling vacancies and eligibility determinations.
• Requires ethics training for directors, and subjecting board members to ethics laws with annual training requirements.
• Requires the regional board to retain a consulting engineer, conduct annual compliance assessments, project assessments for large capital projects, and financial viability analyses for financing.
• Implements strict financial reporting: annual and monthly budgets, audited financials, five-year operating plan, ten-year capital plan, and detailed operational statistics; disclosure to state legislators and the public via a regional board website.
• Regulates rates and payments to ensure reasonableness; restrictions on improper payments to municipalities or related entities; enforcement by the Attorney General in Montgomery County.
• Requires a chief executive officer to manage daily operations, with board-approved hiring for other executives; sets contract terms and termination provisions for the CEO.
• Authorizes amendments to the regional board’s certificate of incorporation and mandates name changes to reflect regional status.
• Repeals existing sections governing former municipal water works boards and makes the act effective immediately.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Telecommunications & Utilities