89R13038 KRM-F
By: Morales Shaw H.B. No. 5341
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance by the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality of permits to authorize the diversion of state water from
the Gulf of Mexico or a bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico for
desalination and use for industrial purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.1405, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (g-1) to read as
follows:
(g) The commission:
(1) shall [may] include any provision in a permit
issued under this section that the commission considers necessary
to comply with the environmental flow standards established under
Section 11.1471;
(2) may limit a point of diversion to an area located
outside of a sensitive habitat based on the environmental flow
analyses and recommended environmental flow regimes developed by
the applicable basin and bay expert science team under Section
11.02362; and
(3) may deny a permit for a diversion of state water
under this section if the point of diversion is in close proximity
to a sensitive habitat such as an oyster reef or seagrass bed.
(g-1) The commission by rule shall establish standards to
minimize impingement and entrainment caused by a permitted
diversion of state water from a bay or arm of the Gulf of Mexico.
SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 2026, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt or amend rules
necessary to implement the changes in law made by this Act.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an application for a permit for the diversion of state water that is
submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or
after the effective date of this Act. An application for a permit
that was submitted to the commission before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
application was submitted, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.