| 1 | 1 | | By: Canales (Senate Sponsor - Johnson) H.B. No. 4373 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 2023; |
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| 3 | 3 | | May 15, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Business & |
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| 4 | 4 | | Commerce; May 19, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: |
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| 5 | 5 | | Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 19, 2023, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | |
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| 9 | 9 | | COMMITTEE VOTE |
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| 10 | 10 | | YeaNayAbsentPNV |
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| 11 | 11 | | SchwertnerX |
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| 12 | 12 | | KingX |
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| 13 | 13 | | BirdwellX |
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| 14 | 14 | | CampbellX |
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| 15 | 15 | | CreightonX |
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| 16 | 16 | | JohnsonX |
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| 17 | 17 | | KolkhorstX |
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| 18 | 18 | | MenéndezX |
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| 19 | 19 | | MiddletonX |
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| 20 | 20 | | NicholsX |
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| 21 | 21 | | ZaffiriniX |
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| 22 | 22 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 23 | 23 | | AN ACT |
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| 24 | 24 | | relating to the procedure by which a regional water planning group |
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| 25 | 25 | | is required to make the regional water plan prepared by the group |
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| 26 | 26 | | available for public inspection. |
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| 27 | 27 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 28 | 28 | | SECTION 1. Section 16.053(h), Water Code, is amended by |
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| 29 | 29 | | amending Subdivision (3) and adding Subdivision (13) to read as |
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| 30 | 30 | | follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | (3) After the regional water plan is initially |
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| 32 | 32 | | prepared, the regional water planning group shall, after notice, |
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| 33 | 33 | | hold at least one public hearing at some central location readily |
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| 34 | 34 | | accessible to the public within the regional water planning |
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| 35 | 35 | | area. The group shall make [copies of] the plan available for |
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| 36 | 36 | | public inspection at least one month before the hearing by posting |
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| 37 | 37 | | the plan on the group's publicly accessible Internet website and |
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| 38 | 38 | | may make the plan available for review at other locations |
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| 39 | 39 | | [providing a copy of the plan in the county courthouse and at least |
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| 40 | 40 | | one public library of each county having land in the |
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| 41 | 41 | | region]. Notice for the hearing must [shall] include the address |
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| 42 | 42 | | of the Internet website on which the plan will be posted [a listing |
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| 43 | 43 | | of these] and any other location where the plan is available for |
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| 44 | 44 | | review. |
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| 45 | 45 | | (13) Each regional water planning group shall maintain |
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| 46 | 46 | | a publicly accessible Internet website. Each regional water |
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| 47 | 47 | | planning group shall consider and accommodate residents of the |
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| 48 | 48 | | regional water planning area who may need assistance accessing the |
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| 49 | 49 | | regional water plan prepared by the regional water planning group |
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| 50 | 50 | | because of a lack of access to Internet services. |
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| 51 | 51 | | SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
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| 52 | 52 | | a regional water plan required to be made available for public |
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| 53 | 53 | | inspection on or after the effective date of this Act. A regional |
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| 54 | 54 | | water plan required to be made available for public inspection |
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| 55 | 55 | | before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in |
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| 56 | 56 | | effect at the time the plan is required to be made available, and |
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| 57 | 57 | | the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
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| 58 | 58 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |
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| 59 | 59 | | * * * * * |
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