By: Averitt S.B. No. 2319
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a groundwater conservation district in
a priority groundwater management area.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 35.012, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d) through
(f) to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided under Section 35.013, within
[Within] two years, but no sooner than 120 days, from the date on
which the commission issues an order under Section 35.008
designating a priority groundwater management area, for those areas
that are not within a district, the commission shall[:
[(1)] create one or more new districts under Section
36.0151[;
[(2) recommend that the areas, or a portion of the
areas, be added to an existing district under Section 35.013; or
[(3) take any combination of the actions under
Subdivisions (1) and (2)].
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a district created
under Section 36.0151 must be composed of territory within two or
more contiguous counties, unless the commission determines that a
district composed of territory within noncontiguous counties will
result in more effective or efficient groundwater management than
other legal options available to the commission.
(d) A district created under Section 36.0151 may be composed
of territory that exists within the boundaries of a single county
only if:
(1) the territory within the single county is the only
area within the designated priority groundwater management area
that is not within a district; or
(2) there are other areas within the designated
priority groundwater management area, but:
(A) the other areas are not contiguous to the
territory; and
(B) the commission determines that creating a
single district composed of two or more of the noncontiguous areas,
including the territory, would result in less effective or less
efficient management of groundwater resources in the territory than
creating a district composed of the territory within the single
county.
(e) For purposes of this section, the commission may
consider territory in two separately designated priority
groundwater management areas to be within the same designated
priority groundwater management area if:
(1) the priority groundwater management areas share a
common boundary and one or more common aquifers; and
(2) the commission determines that a district composed
of territory within the two areas will result in more effective or
efficient groundwater management than other legal options
available to the commission.
(f) Following the issuance of a commission order under
Section 35.008, the Texas Agricultural Extension Service shall
begin an educational program within such areas with the assistance
and cooperation of the Texas Water Development Board, the
commission, the Department of Agriculture, other state agencies,
and existing districts to inform the residents of the status of the
area's water resources and management options including possible
formation of a district. The county commissioners court of each
county in the priority groundwater management area shall form a
steering committee to provide assistance to the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service in accomplishing the goals of the education
program within the area.
SECTION 2. Subsections (b), (c), (h), and (i), Section
35.013, Water Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) The commission shall submit a copy of the order to the
board of the district to which it is recommending the priority
groundwater management area be added. The board shall vote not
later than the 120th day after receiving the copy of the order from
the commission on the addition of the priority groundwater
management area to the district and shall advise the commission of
the outcome.
(c) If the board votes to accept the addition of the
priority groundwater management area to the district, the board:
(1) may request the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service, the commission, and the Texas Water Development Board,
with the cooperation and assistance of the Department of
Agriculture and other state agencies, to administer an educational
program to inform the residents of the status of the area's water
resources and management options including possible annexation
into a district;
(2) shall call an election to be held not later than
the 270th day after the date of the board's vote under Subsection
(b) within the priority groundwater management area, or portion of
the priority groundwater management area, as delineated by the
commission to determine whether [if] the priority groundwater
management area will be added to the district; and
(3) shall designate election precincts and polling
places for the elections in the order calling an election under this
subsection.
(h) If the proposition is defeated, or if the board of the
existing district votes not to accept the addition of the area to
the district, then the commission shall, except as provided under
Subsection (i), create under Section 36.0151 one or more districts
covering the priority groundwater management area not later than
the later of:
(1) the second anniversary of the date on which the
commission issued its order under Section 35.008 designating a
priority groundwater management area; or
(2) the 180th day after the date described under
Subdivision (1) if the legislature is in session on the date
described under Subdivision (1) and a bill has been filed and is
pending before the legislature to create a district in all or part
of the area or to add all or part of the area to an existing district
[the first anniversary of the date on which the proposition is
defeated or the board votes not to accept the area].
(i) In creating a district under Section 36.0151, the
commission may modify the recommendation issued in its order for
district creation under Section 35.008 to reflect the failure of an
area to be added to an existing district or to account for the
creation of any new districts or the addition of any other territory
in the priority groundwater management area to an existing district
during the intervening period, provided, however, that such
modification does not affect the deadlines for district creation
under Section 35.012 or this section. For an area that is not
feasible for the creation of one or more districts as determined in
the commission's findings under Section 35.008, the commission
shall include in its report under Section 35.018 recommendations
for the future management of the priority groundwater management
area.
SECTION 3. Notwithstanding Section 35.012, Water Code, as
amended by this Act, and Section 36.0151, Water Code, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality may not create a groundwater
conservation district under Section 36.0151, Water Code, before
September 1, 2011, in territory that exists within the boundaries
of a single county in which total surface water use is more than 50
times the total groundwater production and that is located in a
priority groundwater management area.
SECTION 4. 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.