H.R. No. 2659
R E S O L U T I O N
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the State of
Texas, 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, That House Rule 13,
Section 9(a), be suspended in part as provided by House Rule 13,
Section 9(f), to enable the conference committee appointed to
resolve the differences on Senate Bill 660 (review and functions of
the Texas Water Development Board, including the functions of the
board and related entities in connection with the process for
establishing and appealing desired future conditions in a
groundwater management area), to consider and take action on the
following matters:
(1) House Rule 13, Sections 9(a)(1) and (4), are suspended
to permit the committee to change text not in disagreement and to
add text on a matter not included in either the house or senate
version of the bill in proposed Section 17 of the bill, by adding
Section 36.1083, Water Code, to read as follows:
Sec. 36.1083. APPEAL OF DESIRED FUTURE CONDITIONS. (a) In
this section, "development board" means the Texas Water Development
Board.
(b) [(l)] A person with a legally defined interest in the
groundwater in the [groundwater] management area, a district in or
adjacent to the [groundwater] management area, or a regional water
planning group for a region in the [groundwater] management area
may file a petition with the development board appealing the
approval of the desired future conditions of the groundwater
resources established under this section. The petition must
provide evidence that the districts did not establish a reasonable
desired future condition of the groundwater resources in the
[groundwater] management area.
(c) [(m)] The development board shall review the petition
and any evidence relevant to the petition. The development board
shall hold at least one hearing at a central location in the
management area to take testimony on the petition. The development
board may delegate responsibility for a hearing to the executive
administrator or to a person designated by the executive
administrator. If the development board finds that the conditions
require revision, the development board shall submit a report to
the districts that includes a list of findings and recommended
revisions to the desired future conditions of the groundwater
resources.
(d) [(n)] The districts shall prepare a revised plan in
accordance with development board recommendations and hold, after
notice, at least one public hearing at a central location in the
[groundwater] management area. After consideration of all public
and development board comments, the districts shall revise the
conditions and submit the conditions to the development board for
review.
Explanation: This change is necessary to restore language in
current law regarding the method for appealing desired future
conditions that was bracketed out by the house and senate versions
of the bill.
(2) House Rule 13, Section 9(a)(1), is suspended to permit
the committee to change text not in disagreement in proposed
Section 24 of the bill to read as follows:
SECTION 24. The requirement that a groundwater conservation
district's management plan under Subsection (a), Section 36.1071,
Water Code, as amended by this Act, include the desired future
conditions adopted under Section 36.108, Water Code, as amended by
this Act, for submission to the executive administrator of the
Texas Water Development Board before the plan is considered
administratively complete applies only to a district management
plan submitted to the executive administrator on or after the
effective date of this Act. A management plan submitted before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the plan was submitted, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
Explanation: This change is necessary to correct an error in
a cross-reference.
(3) House Rule 13, Section 9(a)(2), is suspended to permit
the committee to omit text not in disagreement in Section 25 of the
senate and house versions of the bill that reads as follows:
SECTION 25. A petition filed and pending on the effective
date of this Act before the Texas Water Development Board to appeal
the adoption of desired future conditions by a groundwater
management area under former Subsection (l), Section 36.108, Water
Code, shall be handled by the Texas Water Development Board in
compliance with Subsections (l), (m), and (n), Section 36.108,
Water Code, as those subsections existed before the effective date
of this Act.
Explanation: This change is necessary to reflect the
addition of Section 36.1083, Water Code, which restores language in
current law that was bracketed out by the house and senate versions
of the bill.
Ritter
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 2659 was adopted by the House on May
29, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House