By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 1080
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a mitigation program and fees for the Lost Pines
Groundwater Conservation District.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 8849, Special District Local Laws Code,
is amended by adding Section 8849.107 to read as follows:
Sec. 8849.107. MITIGATION PROGRAM. (a) The district may,
by rule, establish a mitigation program to address excessive
drawdown in an aquifer or subdivision of an aquifer such that the
potentiometric surface is below the desired future condition or has
resulted in wells having become non-productive. In accordance with
a district rule, mitigation may take the form of:
1) reducing groundwater production within the
aquifer or subdivision of an aquifer; or
2) providing reimbursement for the cost of
repairing wells to access groundwater below the potentiometric
surface of the aquifer or subdivision of an aquifer.
(b) The district may fund the mitigation program utilizing
pumping fees, export fees, or any other revenue available to the
district.
SECTION 2. Section 8849.151, Special District Local Laws
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8849.151. [PUMPING] FEES. (a) The district may assess
regulatory production [pumping] fees pursuant to Section
36.205(c), Water Code, and regulatory export fees pursuant to
Section 36.122, Water Code [for water produced in or exported from
the district].
(b) The regulatory production [pumping] fees the district
assesses for water for crop or livestock production or other
agricultural uses may not exceed 20 percent of the rate applied to
water for municipal uses.
(c) Regulatory production [pumping] fees [based on the
amount of water withdrawn from a well] may not exceed:
(1) $1 for each acre-foot for water used to irrigate
agricultural crops; or
(2) 17 cents for each thousand gallons for water used
for any other purpose.
[(d) Combined regulatory pumping fees for production and
export of water may not exceed 17 cents for each thousand gallons
for water used.]
SECTION 3. Mitigation payments and fees assessed before the
effective date of this Act are ratified, confirmed, and validated
and all governmental acts and proceedings of the board of directors
that occurred before the effective date of this Act are validated
for all purposes.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.