By: Miller of Comal H.B. No. 3924
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the Comal Trinity Groundwater
Conservation District; providing authority to issue bonds;
providing authority to impose assessments, fees, or surcharges.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle H, Title 6, Special District Local Laws
Code, is amended by adding Chapter 8875 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 8875. COMAL TRINITY GROUNDWATER
CONSERVATION DISTRICT
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 8875.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Board" means the board of directors of the
district.
(2) "Commission" means the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(3) "Director" means a member of the board.
(4) "District" means the Comal Trinity Groundwater
Conservation District.
(5) "Retail public utility" means a retail public
utility as defined by Section 13.002, Water Code, that is providing
service in the district.
Sec. 8875.002. NATURE OF DISTRICT. The district is a
groundwater conservation district in Comal County created under and
essential to accomplish the purposes of Section 59, Article XVI,
Texas Constitution.
Sec. 8875.003. CONFIRMATION ELECTION REQUIRED. If the
creation of the district is not confirmed at a confirmation
election held before December 31, 2016:
(1) the district is dissolved on December 31, 2017,
except that:
(A) any debts incurred shall be paid;
(B) any assets that remain after the payment of
debts shall be transferred to Comal County; and
(C) the organization of the district shall be
maintained until all debts are paid and remaining assets are
transferred; and
(2) this chapter expires on September 1, 2020.
Sec. 8875.004. INITIAL DISTRICT TERRITORY. The initial
boundaries of the district are coextensive with the boundaries of
Comal County, Texas, except that the district does not include any
territory that is included in the boundaries of the Trinity Glen
Rose Groundwater Conservation District.
Sec. 8875.005. CONFLICTS OF LAW. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), this chapter prevails over any provision of general
law, including a provision of Chapter 36, Water Code, that is in
conflict or is inconsistent with this chapter.
(b) The following provisions prevail over a provision of
this chapter that is in conflict or is inconsistent with the
provision:
(1) Sections 36.1071-36.108, Water Code;
(2) Sections 36.159-36.161, Water Code; and
(3) Subchapter I, Chapter 36, Water Code.
SUBCHAPTER A-1. TEMPORARY PROVISIONS
Sec. 8875.021. APPOINTMENT OF TEMPORARY DIRECTORS. (a)
The temporary board consists of:
(1) Velma Reyes-Danielson;
(2) Jim Bower;
(3) Larry Alexander;
(4) John Seidel; and
(5) Robert E. Johnson, Jr.
(b) The temporary directors may adopt rules and assess fees
to manage and operate the district. On the election of the permanent
directors, the permanent directors shall consider and may approve
the rules adopted by the temporary directors. A rule that is not
approved by the permanent directors is not enforceable.
(c) If there is a vacancy on the temporary board of
directors of the district, the remaining temporary directors shall
select a qualified person to fill the vacancy. If, at any time,
there are fewer than three qualified temporary directors, the Comal
County Commissioners Court shall appoint the necessary number of
persons to fill all vacancies on the board.
(d) Temporary directors or their successors serve until the
earlier of:
(1) the time the initial directors are elected as
provided by Section 8875.025 and have qualified; or
(2) the date this chapter expires under Section
8875.003.
Sec. 8875.022. ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING OF TEMPORARY
DIRECTORS. As soon as practicable after all the temporary
directors have qualified under Section 36.055, Water Code, a
majority of the temporary directors shall convene the
organizational meeting of the district at a location within the
district agreeable to a majority of the directors. At the meeting,
the temporary directors shall elect a chair, vice chair, and
secretary from among the temporary directors.
Sec. 8875.023. CONFIRMATION ELECTION. (a) The temporary
directors shall order an election to be held in the district to
confirm the creation of the district.
(b) Section 41.001(a), Election Code, does not apply to an
election held under this section.
(c) Except as provided by this section, a confirmation
election must be conducted as provided by the Election Code and
Sections 36.017(b)-(h), Water Code.
(d) If a majority of the votes cast at the election are in
favor of confirming the district's creation, the temporary
directors shall declare the district created. If a majority of the
votes cast are not in favor of confirming the district's creation,
the district's creation is not confirmed. The temporary directors
shall file a copy of the election results with the commission.
(e) If the district's creation is not confirmed at an
election held under this section, the temporary directors may order
one or more subsequent elections to be held to confirm the creation
of the district not earlier than the first anniversary of the
preceding confirmation election. If the district's creation is not
confirmed at an election held under this section before December
31, 2016, the district is dissolved in accordance with Section
8875.003.
Sec. 8875.024. CONTINUATION OF TEMPORARY DIRECTORS. (a)
If the creation of the district is confirmed at an election held
under Section 8875.023, the temporary directors shall continue to
serve as temporary directors until the uniform election date
prescribed by Section 41.001, Election Code, in November of the
first even-numbered year after the year in which the creation of the
district is confirmed.
(b) The term of a temporary director may not exceed four
years.
(c) If permanent directors have not been elected under
Section 8875.025 and the terms of the temporary directors have
expired, successor temporary directors shall be appointed or
reappointed as provided by Subsection (d) to serve terms that
expire on the earlier of:
(1) the date permanent directors are elected under
Section 8875.025; or
(2) the fourth anniversary of the date of the
appointment or reappointment.
(d) If Subsection (c) applies, the temporary directors may
submit a petition to the Comal County Commissioners Court
requesting that the commissioners court appoint as successor
temporary directors the five persons named in the petition. The
commissioners court shall appoint as successor temporary directors
the five persons named in the petition.
Sec. 8875.025. INITIAL ELECTION OF PERMANENT DIRECTORS.
(a) On the uniform election date prescribed by Section 41.001,
Election Code, in November of the first even-numbered year after
the year in which the creation of the district is confirmed under
Section 8875.023, an election shall be held in the district for the
election of five directors to replace the temporary directors who
shall serve until that election.
(b) The initial permanent directors shall draw lots to
determine which three directors shall serve a four-year term and
which two directors shall serve a two-year term.
Sec. 8875.026. EXPIRATION OF SUBCHAPTER. This subchapter
expires December 31, 2019.
SUBCHAPTER B. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sec. 8875.051. DIRECTORS; TERMS. (a) The district is
governed by a board of five directors.
(b) Directors serve staggered four-year terms.
Sec. 8875.052. METHOD OF ELECTING DIRECTORS: COMMISSIONERS
PRECINCTS. (a) The directors of the district shall be elected
according to the commissioners precinct method as provided by this
section.
(b) One director shall be elected by the voters of the
entire district, and one director shall be elected from each county
commissioners precinct by the voters of that precinct.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (e), to be eligible to
be a candidate for or to serve as director at large, a person must be
a registered voter of the district. To be a candidate for or to
serve as director from a county commissioners precinct, a person
must be a registered voter of that precinct.
(d) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
on the ballot:
(1) the precinct that the person seeks to represent;
or
(2) that the person seeks to represent the district at
large.
(e) When the boundaries of the county commissioners
precincts are redrawn after each federal decennial census to
reflect population changes, a director in office on the effective
date of the change, or a director elected or appointed before the
effective date of the change whose term of office begins on or after
the effective date of the change, shall serve in the precinct to
which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries
places the person's residence outside the precinct for which the
person was elected or appointed.
(f) After the first election held after the boundaries of
the county commissioners precincts are redrawn, the directors
elected shall draw lots to determine which three directors shall
serve a four-year term and which two directors shall serve a
two-year term.
(g) A director may not serve more than two consecutive terms
and may not serve for a total of more than 12 years.
Sec. 8875.053. ELECTION DATE. The district shall hold an
election to elect the appropriate number of directors on the
uniform election date prescribed by Section 41.001, Election Code,
in November of each even-numbered year.
Sec. 8875.054. VACANCIES. A vacancy on the board shall be
filled by appointment of the board until the next regularly
scheduled directors' election. The person appointed to fill the
vacancy shall serve only for the remainder of the unexpired term.
SUBCHAPTER C. POWERS AND DUTIES
Sec. 8875.101. GROUNDWATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT POWERS
AND DUTIES. The district has the rights, powers, privileges,
functions, and duties provided by the general law of this state,
including Chapter 36, Water Code, applicable to groundwater
conservation districts created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
Constitution.
Sec. 8875.102. CONTRACTS. The district may contract with a
state agency or political subdivision, including a county, a river
authority, or another district, to carry out any function of the
district.
Sec. 8875.103. BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. (a) The
district may participate in the development and implementation of
best management practices for water resource management in the
district and may engage in and promote the acceptance of best
management practices through education efforts sponsored by the
district.
(b) Development and implementation of best management
practices must address water quantity and quality practices such as
brush management, prescribed grazing, recharge structures, water
and silt detention and retention structures, plugging of abandoned
wells, rainwater harvesting, and other treatment measures for the
conservation of water resources.
(c) The district may not adopt or implement a best
management practice that is in conflict with or duplicative of a
best management practice adopted by a groundwater conservation
district whose territory covers any part of Comal County.
Sec. 8875.104. LIMITATIONS ON DISTRICT POWERS. (a) The
district may not:
(1) require the owner of a well used solely for
domestic or livestock purposes to install a meter or measuring
device on the well;
(2) except as provided by Subdivision (3), and
notwithstanding Section 36.122, Water Code, allow the sale,
transport, or export of groundwater produced from a well inside the
district to a person or location outside the district;
(3) if the owner of a well with a certificate of public
convenience and necessity obtains a permit from the district,
prohibit the sale, transport, or export of groundwater produced
from a well inside the district to a person located inside the
territory covered by the well owner's certificate of public
convenience and necessity; or
(4) assess and collect a production fee on wells
exempt from permitting.
(b) The district does not have the authority granted by
Sections 36.020 and 36.201-36.204, Water Code, relating to taxes.
Sec. 8875.105. WELL EXEMPTION. Notwithstanding Section
36.117(j), Water Code, a well drilled on or before the effective
date of the Act enacting this chapter, for any purpose authorized
under this chapter, is exempt from the requirement to obtain a
withdrawal permit provided that the well:
(1) is used solely for domestic use or for providing
water for livestock or poultry regardless of land lot size and is
drilled, completed, or equipped so that it is incapable of
producing more than 25,000 gallons of groundwater a day;
(2) is not capable of producing more than 10,000
gallons of water a day; or
(3) is metered and does not produce more than 10
acre-feet of water in a calendar year.
Sec. 8875.106. MEASURING DEVICES. (a) The owner of a
nonexempt well shall install and maintain a water well meter, or
alternative measuring device or method approved by the district,
designed to indicate the flow rate and cumulative amount of water
withdrawn by that well, on each individual well no later than 36
months after the effective date of the Act enacting this chapter.
(b) A well owner is responsible for the costs of installing,
operating, and maintaining measuring devices.
Sec. 8875.107. NO EMINENT DOMAIN. The district may not
exercise the power of eminent domain.
SUBCHAPTER D. GENERAL FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 8875.151. FEES. (a) The district may impose
reasonable production fees only on each nonexempt well based on the
amount of water actually withdrawn from the well. The district
shall adopt any rules necessary for the assessment and collection
of fees under this subsection.
(b) The district may use money collected from fees:
(1) in any manner necessary for the management and
operation of the district;
(2) to pay all or part of the principal of and interest
on district bonds or notes; and
(3) for any purpose consistent with the district's
approved water management plan.
(c) The production fee may not exceed $30 per acre-foot.
(d) Not later than two years after the date on which the
district is confirmed at an election, the directors of the district
shall reconsider the production fee cap provided by Subsection (c)
for the sole purpose of determining if decreasing the dollar amount
of the production fee cap would more accurately reflect actual
water use and actual expenses related to managing and operating the
district. The district may set a lower production fee cap if the
lower cap more accurately reflects the actual water use and actual
expenses related to managing and operating the district.
SECTION 2. (a) The legal notice of the intention to
introduce this Act, setting forth the general substance of this
Act, has been published as provided by law, and the notice and a
copy of this Act have been furnished to all persons, agencies,
officials, or entities to which they are required to be furnished
under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313,
Government Code.
(b) The governor, one of the required recipients, has
submitted the notice and Act to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives within the required time.
(d) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
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, 2013.