By: Canales (Senate Sponsor - Johnson) H.B. No. 4373
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 2023;
May 15, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
Commerce; May 19, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 19, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE VOTE
YeaNayAbsentPNV
SchwertnerX
KingX
BirdwellX
CampbellX
CreightonX
JohnsonX
KolkhorstX
MenéndezX
MiddletonX
NicholsX
ZaffiriniX
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the procedure by which a regional water planning group
is required to make the regional water plan prepared by the group
available for public inspection.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 16.053(h), Water Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (3) and adding Subdivision (13) to read as
follows:
(3) After the regional water plan is initially
prepared, the regional water planning group shall, after notice,
hold at least one public hearing at some central location readily
accessible to the public within the regional water planning
area. The group shall make [copies of] the plan available for
public inspection at least one month before the hearing by posting
the plan on the group's publicly accessible Internet website and
may make the plan available for review at other locations
[providing a copy of the plan in the county courthouse and at least
one public library of each county having land in the
region]. Notice for the hearing must [shall] include the address
of the Internet website on which the plan will be posted [a listing
of these] and any other location where the plan is available for
review.
(13) Each regional water planning group shall maintain
a publicly accessible Internet website. Each regional water
planning group shall consider and accommodate residents of the
regional water planning area who may need assistance accessing the
regional water plan prepared by the regional water planning group
because of a lack of access to Internet services.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a regional water plan required to be made available for public
inspection on or after the effective date of this Act. A regional
water plan required to be made available for public inspection
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect at the time the plan is required to be made available, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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