By: Duncan S.B. No. 2296
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the submission of groundwater management plans to the
executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.1072, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsection (e-1) to
read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (e-1), a [A] district
shall, not later than three years after the creation of the district
or, if the district required confirmation, after the election
confirming the district's creation, submit the management plan
required under Section 36.1071 to the executive administrator for
review and approval.
(e) The district may review the plan annually and must
review and readopt the plan with or without revisions at least once
every five years. Except as provided by Subsection (e-1),
the [The] district shall provide the readopted plan to the
executive administrator not later than the 60th day after the date
on which the plan was readopted. Approval of the preceding
management plan remains in effect until:
(1) the district fails to timely readopt a management
plan;
(2) the district fails to timely submit the district's
readopted management plan to the executive administrator; or
(3) the executive administrator determines that the
readopted management plan does not meet the requirements for
approval, and the district has exhausted all appeals to the Texas
Water Development Board or appropriate court.
(e-1) If a district is required to submit a management plan
under Subsection (a) or a readopted management plan under
Subsection (e) prior to a date that is one year after the date the
executive administrator provides to the district under Section
36.108(o) the amount of managed available groundwater, the district
may in its sole discretion submit to the executive administrator a
new or readopted plan not later than the first anniversary of the
date the district receives the amount of managed available
groundwater from the executive administrator in lieu of the
applicable deadlines set forth under Subsection (a) or (e). A
district to which this subsection applies may not adopt new or
amended rules limiting production of wells or allocating
groundwater before the district submits to the executive
administrator the management plan or readopted plan as provided by
this subsection. This subsection expires September 1, 2013.
SECTION 2. Section 36.1072, Water Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to a groundwater management plan that is
submitted to the executive administrator of the Texas Water
Development Board on or after the effective date of this Act. A
groundwater management plan that is submitted to the executive
administrator before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect when the management plan was submitted, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.