S.B. No. 1080
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. Subchapter C, 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
shall, by rule adopted in accordance with Section 36.101, Water
Code, establish a mitigation program to address excessive drawdown
of an aquifer or subdivision of an aquifer in the district that
results in:
(1) the potentiometric surface being below a desired
future condition; or
(2) nonproductive wells.
(b) In order to provide a balance between the highest
practicable level of groundwater production and the conservation,
preservation, protection, recharge, and prevention of waste of
groundwater and control of subsidence, a mitigation program
established under this section may provide reimbursement for the
cost of repairing or replacing wells described by Section
36.117(b)(1), Water Code, to access groundwater below the
potentiometric surface of the aquifer or subdivision of an aquifer
that is the subject of the program.
(c) The district shall offer to enter into a reciprocal
agreement with an adjacent groundwater conservation district or a
groundwater conservation district located in Groundwater
Management Area 12 to support a jointly managed mitigation program.
The district may fund the mitigation program with production 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 production [regulatory pumping] fees under Section
36.205(c), Water Code, and export fees under Section 36.122, Water
Code [for water produced in or exported from the district].
(b) The production [regulatory 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) Production [Regulatory 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amount of water withdrawn from a well] may not exceed: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
in all respects.
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1080 passed the Senate on
March 28, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 23, 2023, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1080 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 17, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 142,
Nays 1, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor