86R5787 SLB-F
By: Lucio III H.B. No. 2249
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to regulation of production of wells for retail public
utilities by a groundwater conservation district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.116(c), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) In regulating the production of groundwater based on
tract size or acreage, a district shall [may] consider the [service
needs or] service area of a retail public utility that serves the
territory where production is regulated by the district in
accordance with this section and Section 36.1161. To determine the
service area of a retail public utility for consideration under
this section, a district shall determine the number of acres in the
retail public utility's service area that overlie the aquifer from
which a completed or proposed well owned by the retail public
utility will produce groundwater and deduct from that number the
number of acres in that portion of the service area that the
district has permitted to landowners. On the anniversary of the
date the permit was issued to the retail public utility, the
district shall adjust the permit held by the retail public utility
to account for the number of acres permitted to landowners in that
portion of the service area since the most recent determination of
acreage of the service area. For the purposes of this subsection,
"retail public utility" has [shall have] the meaning assigned
[provided] by Section 13.002.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 36.1161 to read as follows:
Sec. 36.1161. REGULATION OF PRODUCTION BY RETAIL PUBLIC
UTILITIES. (a) In this section, "retail public utility" has the
meaning assigned by Section 13.002.
(b) This section applies only to a district that regulates
production under Section 36.116 based on tract size or acreage.
(c) A district may not deny a permit for the production of
groundwater to a landowner because of the location of a well owned
by a retail public utility.
(d) A retail public utility may not file a protest or
objection to a landowner's application for a permit if the proposed
well is located in the retail public utility's service area.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.