BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

C.S.S.B. 2440

By: Perry

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

There have been many instances around the state where new housing developments are being built and groundwater is stated as an available resource on the plat application. However, there is no guarantee that groundwater is actually there, and many people who are buying their retirement home or their first home are stuck without water. C.S.S.B. 2440 seeks to provide for the requirement for a plat application for the subdivision of certain tracts of land to include proof of groundwater supply and to provide for the creation and update of maps delineating areas determined to have available groundwater located over certain aquifers.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

 

ANALYSIS

 

C.S.S.B. 2440 amends the Local Government Code to revise provisions relating to a plat application for the subdivision of a tract of land for which the source of the water supply intended for the subdivision is groundwater under that land by removing the authorization for the municipal authority responsible for approving plats by ordinance or county commissioners court by order, as applicable, to require that such an application have attached to it a statement prepared by a licensed engineer or licensed geoscientist certifying that adequate groundwater is available for the subdivision. The bill requires such an application instead to have attached to it such a statement.

 

C.S.S.B. 2440 requires the executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to create and update maps delineating the areas determined by the executive administrator to be located over the Gulf Coast Aquifer or the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer that have groundwater physically available to landowners with an estimated average total dissolved solids concentration of less than 1,000 milligrams per liter. The bill requires the executive administrator of the TWDB to make the most recent maps publicly available on the TWDB website.

 

C.S.S.B. 2440 authorizes a municipal authority responsible for approving plats or the county commissioners court, as applicable, to waive the requirement for the statement attached to a plat application under the following conditions:

·         the entire tract proposed to be subdivided by the plat is located in an area included in a map posted on the TWDB website; or

·         the proposed subdivision divides the tract into not more than 20 parts, and the municipal authority or commissioners court, as applicable, has a reasonable belief that sufficient groundwater is available and will continue to be available to the subdivided tract of land.

The bill requires a person otherwise subject to a waiver regarding a tract of land proposed to be divided into not more than 20 parts to comply with the requirements for the attached statement if the tract is subsequently divided in a manner that results in the original tract being subdivided into more than 20 parts.

 

C.S.S.B. 2440 applies only to a plat application filed on or after the bill's effective date. A plat application filed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

 

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

 

While C.S.S.B. 2440 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

 

With respect to the provision of current law set out in both the engrossed and the substitute that authorizes a municipal authority or county commissioners court, as applicable and by ordinance or order, respectively, to require an applicable plat application to have an attached statement, the engrossed and substitute differ, as follows, in how they revise the provision:

·         the engrossed revised that provision in current law to require, rather than authorize, the authority or court to require such an attached statement; but

·         the substitute revises the provision to remove the specification from current law that the authority or court may require the attached statement and instead directly requires the application to have the attached statement.

 

The substitute includes provisions absent from the engrossed relating to the following, applicable both to a municipal authority and a commissioners court:

·         a waiver of the requirement for a plat application to have the statement attached under certain conditions and an already authorized exception to such a waiver; and

·         a requirement for the executive administrator of the TWDB to create, update, and make publicly available maps delineating areas determined to be over specified aquifers that have groundwater physically available to landowners that meets specified criteria.