81R5503 HLT-D
By: Seliger S.B. No. 2119
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to desired future condition requirements for certain
groundwater conservation districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.108(d), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Not later than September 1, 2010, and every five years
thereafter, the districts shall consider groundwater availability
models and other data or information for the management area and
shall establish desired future conditions for the relevant aquifers
within the management area. In establishing the desired future
conditions of the aquifers under this section, the districts shall
consider uses or conditions of an aquifer within the management
area that differ substantially from one geographic area to another.
Except as provided by Section 36.1085, the [The] districts may
establish different desired future conditions for:
(1) each aquifer, subdivision of an aquifer, or
geologic strata located in whole or in part within the boundaries of
the management area; or
(2) each geographic area overlying an aquifer in whole
or in part or subdivision of an aquifer within the boundaries of the
management area.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 36.1085 to read as follows:
Sec. 36.1085. DESIRED FUTURE CONDITION REQUIREMENTS FOR
CERTAIN DISTRICTS. (a) This section applies only to a district
that:
(1) is subject to Section 36.108; and
(2) overlies any part of an aquifer for which the
Internal Revenue Service has allowed cost depletion when a taxpayer
can demonstrate that:
(A) the groundwater is being depleted; and
(B) the rate of recharge is so low that, once
extracted, the groundwater would be lost to the taxpayer and
immediately succeeding generations.
(b) A district whose territory includes land in more than
one county:
(1) shall ensure that each geographic area in the
district delineated by county lines independently achieves the
desired future condition applicable to that part of the aquifer
under the jurisdiction of the district; and
(2) may not achieve or claim compliance with a single
desired future condition for part of an aquifer that applies to
multiple counties or parts of counties in the district by averaging
different desired future conditions across those counties or parts
of counties.
(c) A district whose boundaries are coextensive with the
boundaries of a county shall achieve independently of districts in
other counties the desired future condition applicable to that part
of the aquifer under the jurisdiction of the district.
(d) If two or more districts in the same county are subject
to the same desired future condition, each district shall achieve
independently of the other district in that county the desired
future condition applicable to that part of the aquifer under the
jurisdiction of the district.
SECTION 3. Section 36.1085, Water Code, as added by this
Act, applies only to a district subject to a desired future
condition established under Section 36.108, Water Code, as amended
by this Act, on or after the effective date of this Act. A district
subject to a desired future condition established under Section
36.108, Water Code, before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the desired future
condition was established, and that law is continued in effect
until the desired future condition is next established under
Section 36.108, Water Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.