By: Williams S.B. No. 913
(In the Senate - Filed February 17, 2009; March 9, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
April 14, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 14, 2009,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 913 By: Uresti
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Lower Neches Valley Authority to
acquire, own, operate, maintain, and improve the Devers Canal
System, its water rights, and associated property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 63, Acts of the 43rd Legislature, 1st
Called Session, 1933, is amended by adding Section 13C to read as
follows:
Sec. 13C. (a) In this section:
(1) "Canal system" means the canal system and
associated properties generally known as the Devers Canal System.
(2) "Commission" means the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(3) "Navigation district" means the Chambers-Liberty
Counties Navigation District.
(b) The district may:
(1) acquire, own, operate, maintain, and improve the
canal system; and
(2) enlarge and extend the canal system east of the
Trinity River in Chambers, Liberty, and Jefferson Counties.
(c) The district may own the water rights and appropriate
and divert water of this state under the permits and contracts
previously owned by and acquired from the Devers Canal Rice
Producers Association, Incorporated.
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (e) of this section,
the district may distribute, sell, and use water of this state for
any purpose approved by the commission.
(e) Before entering into a contract to sell or provide water
for any use other than irrigation in Chambers County outside the
district's boundaries that the navigation district had authority to
provide or sell under the navigation district's water rights on
May 1, 2009, the district must:
(1) send to the navigation district a written notice
of intent to sell or provide water for nonirrigation use in Chambers
County outside the district's boundaries; and
(2) allow the navigation district 30 days to exercise
a right of first refusal to provide the water.
(f) The navigation district may exercise its right of first
refusal under Subsection (e) of this section by delivering to the
district notice that it intends to exercise that right not later
than the 30th day after the date the navigation district receives
the notice of intent under Subsection (e) of this section.
(g) The district may enter into a contract described by
Subsection (e) of this section only if the navigation district:
(1) fails to comply with Subsection (f) of this
section; or
(2) complies with Subsection (f) of this section and
does not enter into a contract to sell or otherwise provide water
for the use described by the district's notice of intent under
Subsection (e) of this section before the expiration of four months
after the date the navigation district receives the notice of
intent.
SECTION 2. 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.
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