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House Bill 2423 |
House Author: Puente |
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Effective: 9-1-05 |
Senate Sponsor: Armbrister |
House Bill 2423 amends Water Code general-law provisions for groundwater conservation districts to provide that, in promulgating rules, a district may not discriminate between owners of land that is irrigated for production and owners or lessees and assigns whose land that was irrigated for production is enrolled or participating in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Similar restrictions apply to other code provisions relating to district rulemaking, rule adoption, and permitting of wells. The bill voids any rule that discriminates between currently irrigated land and previously irrigated land in the CRP. It voids a permitting decision if a district reaches the decision in violation of the applicable nondiscrimination provision and if it would have reached a different decision by treating the two types of land alike. The bill requires the Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District (UWCD) No. 1, by a specified deadline, to bring into compliance with the legislation any rule that is voided. The changes in law made by the bill apply to applications to the Hudspeth County UWCD No. 1 that are pending and to permitting decisions by that district that are not yet final as of the bill's effective date.