By: Hall S.B. No. 81
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the naming of a reservoir by certain water districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 49, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 49.239 to read as follows:
Sec. 49.239. RESERVOIR NAME APPROVAL. (a) Before a
district may name a reservoir that the district is authorized to
construct and that the district will own or operate, the district
must request approval of the name from the commissioners court of
the county in which the reservoir project site is located.
(b) If the reservoir project site is located in more than
one county, the district must request approval of the name from the
commissioners court of the county in which the reservoir project
site is principally located. For purposes of this subsection, a
reservoir project site is principally located in a county if a
majority of the acreage of the reservoir surface area will be
located in that county.
(c) A commissioners court that receives a request from a
district for the approval of a name for a reservoir under this
section shall approve or deny the request not later than the 60th
day after the date the district submits the request. If the
commissioners court fails to approve or deny the request within the
period prescribed by this subsection, the request is considered
approved.
(d) This section does not prevent a district from soliciting
input regarding a name for a reservoir from the commissioners court
of each county in which the reservoir or any part of the reservoir
will be located.
SECTION 2. Section 49.239, Water Code, as added by this Act,
applies to a reservoir project that was authorized to be
constructed before the effective date of this Act but that is not
complete on the effective date of this Act and a reservoir project
that is authorized to be constructed on or after the effective date
of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.