§ 6.003.Water Districts Exempt from Appeal Bond

A narrower exemption than the neighbouring sections, and the difference is worth noticing.

A listed entity may not be required to give bond on an appeal or writ of error taken in a civil case that the entity is prosecuting or defending in its official capacity.

This covers appeals only. Where the city exemption reaches security for costs in any action and the school district exemption reaches both, this one is confined to the appellate bond.

"In its official capacity" is the second limit. The exemption attaches to the district acting as a district, not to litigation of some other character.

Four categories are listed. A water improvement district, water control and improvement district, irrigation district, conservation and reclamation district, or water control and preservation district organized under state law; a levee improvement district; a drainage district; and an entity created under Section 52, Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, of the Texas Constitution.

The constitutional entry is the widest of them. Article XVI, Section 59 is the conservation amendment under which most Texas water districts exist, so an entity created under it is covered whatever it is called.

That entry also makes the list partly redundant, which is what happens when a statute names categories and then adds the constitutional provision they were created under.

These districts levy taxes and issue bonds, which is the justification the chapter applies throughout: security exists against an appellant who cannot pay.