REQUIRED TRAINING.

(a) A person who is appointed to and qualifies for office as a director may not vote, deliberate, or be counted as a director in attendance at a meeting of the board until the person completes a training program that complies with this section.

(b) The training program must provide the person with information regarding:

(1) the law governing authority operations;

(2) the programs, functions, rules, and budget of the authority;

(3) the scope of and limitations on the rulemaking authority of the board;

(4) the results of the most recent formal audit of the authority;

(5) the requirements of:

(A) laws relating to open meetings, public information, administrative procedure, and disclosing conflicts of interest; and

(B) other laws applicable to members of the governing body of a river authority in performing their duties; and

(6) any applicable ethics policies adopted by the authority or by the Texas Ethics Commission.

(c) A person appointed to the board is entitled to reimbursement for the travel expenses incurred in attending the training program regardless of whether the attendance at the program occurs before or after the person qualifies for office.

(d) The general manager of the authority shall create a training manual that includes the information required by Subsection (b). The general manager shall distribute a copy of the training manual annually to each director. Each director shall sign and submit to the general manager a statement acknowledging that the director received and has reviewed the training manual.