Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HB4655 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	81R5504 HLT-D
2	2	By: Smithee H.B. No. 4655
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to priority groundwater management areas.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. Section 35.007(a), Water Code, is amended to
10	10	read as follows:
11	11	(a) The executive director and the executive administrator
12	12	shall meet periodically to identify, based on information gathered
13	13	by the commission and the Texas Water Development Board, those
14	14	areas of the state that are experiencing or that are expected to
15	15	experience, within the immediately following 50-year [25-year]
16	16	period, critical groundwater problems, including shortages of
17	17	surface water or groundwater, land subsidence resulting from
18	18	groundwater withdrawal, and contamination of groundwater supplies.
19	19	Not later than September 1, 2005, the commission, with assistance
20	20	and cooperation from the Texas Water Development Board, shall
21	21	complete the initial designation of priority groundwater
22	22	management areas across all major and minor aquifers of the state
23	23	for all areas that meet the criteria for that designation. The
24	24	studies may be prioritized considering information from the
25	25	regional planning process, information from the Texas Water
26	26	Development Board groundwater management areas and from
27	27	groundwater conservation districts, and any other information
28	28	available. After the initial designation of priority groundwater
29	29	management areas, the commission and the Texas Water Development
30	30	Board shall annually review the need for additional designations as
31	31	provided by this subsection.
32	32	SECTION 2. Section 35.008, Water Code, is amended by adding
33	33	Subsection (j) to read as follows:
34	34	(j) The commission may adopt rules regarding:
35	35	(1) the creation of a district over all or part of a
36	36	priority groundwater management area that was designated as a
37	37	critical area under Chapter 35, Water Code, as that chapter existed
38	38	before September 1, 1997, or under other prior law; and
39	39	(2) the addition of all or part of the land in a
40	40	priority groundwater management area described by Subdivision (1)
41	41	to an existing district.
42	42	SECTION 3. All governmental acts and proceedings, including
43	43	the adoption of rules, of the Texas Commission on Environmental
44	44	Quality relating to the creation of a groundwater conservation
45	45	district over all or part of a priority groundwater management area
46	46	that was designated as a critical area under Chapter 35, Water Code,
47	47	as that chapter existed before September 1, 1997, or under other
48	48	prior law, are validated in all respects as of the dates on which
49	49	they occurred.
50	50	SECTION 4. Section 35.007(a), Water Code, as amended by
51	51	this Act, applies only to a designation of a priority groundwater
52	52	management area made by the Texas Commission on Environmental
53	53	Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A designation
54	54	made before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
55	55	effect when the designation was made, and that law is continued in
56	56	effect for that purpose.
57	57	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
58	58	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
59	59	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
60	60	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
61	61	Act takes effect September 1, 2009.