Despite a rocky legislative session the 81st Texas Legislature did pass Senate Bill 361 before their adjounment.  The bill was initially submitted by Houston Senator Dan Patrick.  The new law should be greatly appreciated by the residents of Weston Lakes and the Riverwood sections particularly.  MUD 81 already had emergency generators in place during Hurricane IKE and for the most part will not be affected by the new law.  The law requires water districts and companies to develop a plan to provide all water and sanitation services to their customers during emrgency caused power outages.  The planning process to implement the law will begin later this year and be supervised by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ).  The TCEQ according to the bill shall adopt standards as part of the rule making process by December of this year and approve the plans submitted by the water providers.  By March of 2010 the plans should all be submitted to the TCEQ, and Fort Bend County.  This is process will take some time, but it is hoped that emergency power generation will be available to customers of the water districts and companies by the Hurricane season of 2010. There are some extensions allowed so the implementation could be delayed by 90 days after the July 1, 2010 deadline.   Although the bill passed with little opposition it early stages did not include water districts and companies in Fort Bend County.  The House corrected that shortfall.  Our Mayor was active in lobbying The County Judge, Senator Hegar, and State Representative Zerwas who all supported the bill.  Thanks to Mayor Zdunkewicz and our other elected representatives for their support.