By: Zwiener, Walle, Harris H.B. No. 2350
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to financial assistance provided to political
subdivisions by the Texas Water Development Board for water
resource restoration projects.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 15.604(b), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The board shall adopt rules specifying the manner in
which any additional state revolving fund hereafter established by
the board, or any capitalization grant under the state water
pollution control revolving fund, the safe drinking water revolving
fund, or any additional state revolving fund, may be used to provide
financial assistance to an eligible applicant for public works.
Such rules shall require financial assistance to be provided for
the purpose or purposes and on the terms authorized by the federal
legislation or federal agency program under which the additional
state revolving fund was established or the capitalization grant
was awarded. To the extent not prohibited by board rule or federal
law or regulation, the state water pollution control revolving fund
established under this subchapter may be used to provide financial
assistance for water resource restoration projects described by
Section 15.619.
SECTION 2. Subchapter J, Chapter 15, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 15.619 to read as follows:
Sec. 15.619. WATER RESOURCE RESTORATION PROJECTS. (a) In
this section, "water resource restoration project" means
nature-based infrastructure that will improve water quality in the
political subdivision where the project is located and may include
the acquisition of real property and the use of nature-based water
treatment technologies.
(b) Based on demand, the board may provide financial
assistance to a political subdivision for a locally directed and
managed water resource restoration project if the political
subdivision applicant will bear responsibility for implementation,
stewardship, and maintenance of the project.
(c) Subject to Section 15.603(d) of this chapter and Section
602(b)(11) of the federal act, the board shall establish a process
by which a political subdivision may combine a project funded
through the state water pollution control revolving fund that is
not for a water resource restoration project with a water resource
restoration project. The board may allocate available principal
forgiveness for additional subsidization set-asides in the state
water pollution control revolving fund for green projects, as those
terms are defined by board rule, to the political subdivision to
substantially enhance the financial viability of the water resource
restoration project.
(d) A proposed water resource restoration project must
enhance water quality in the state and include the application of
best management practices for the primary purpose of water quality
protection and improvement. To the extent permitted by federal law
and regulation and United States Environmental Protection Agency
guidance, a proposed water resource restoration project may
include:
(1) the preservation or restoration of regional scale
natural landscape features, including forests, floodplains, and
wetlands;
(2) practices that reduce impervious cover in a
watershed;
(3) practices that increase water infiltration and
retention, including the use of bioretention, trees, green roofs,
permeable pavements, rain gardens, constructed wetlands, and
cisterns;
(4) the implementation of green streets in public
rights-of-way;
(5) the implementation of a comprehensive street tree
or urban forestry program to manage stormwater and enhance tree
health;
(6) the expanded use of tree box filters;
(7) stormwater collection and distribution systems,
including cisterns, separate stormwater sewer systems, and
downspout disconnection systems that use onsite stormwater
management and remove stormwater from sewer systems;
(8) soil quality enhancement activities;
(9) the restoration of native grasses and vegetation
that improve water infiltration;
(10) the establishment or restoration of permanent
riparian buffers, floodplains, wetlands, and other natural
features including vegetative buffers, grass swales, soft
bioengineered stream banks, and stream daylighting;
(11) the management of wetlands to improve water
quality and support water infiltration and retention; and
(12) sustainable landscaping to improve hydrologic
processes.
(e) A proposed water resource restoration project may not
include:
(1) passive recreation activities and trails
including bike trails, playgrounds, athletic fields, picnic
tables, and picnic grounds;
(2) non-permeable surface parking lots;
(3) stormwater ponds or dirt-lined detention basins
that serve an extended or filtration function;
(4) in-line and end-of-pipe treatment systems that
only filter or detain stormwater without the use of natural plants
and trees;
(5) underground stormwater control and treatment
devices, including hydrodynamic separators, baffle systems for
grit, trash removal, and oil and grease separators;
(6) stormwater conveyance systems, including pipes
and concrete channels, that are not soil or vegetation based;
(7) hardening, channelizing, dredging, or
straightening streams or stream banks;
(8) street sweepers, sewer cleaners, and vacuum trucks
unless they support nature-based infrastructure projects; and
(9) supplemental environmental projects required as a
part of an agreed order or consent decree.
(f) A water resource restoration project may not include the
acquisition of property, an interest in property, or improvements
to property through the use of eminent domain.
(g) The board shall establish a means of prioritizing water
resource restoration projects.
(h) An application for financial assistance for a water
resource restoration project under this section must include a
viability assessment that includes:
(1) the ability of the applicant to provide proper
oversight and management through a certified operator; and
(2) the financial ability of the users to support the
long-term maintenance of the water resource restoration project.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.