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House Bill 2615 |
House Author: Johnson |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: Fraser |
Previous law made a person who fails to file a required annual water rights report with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) liable for a penalty of $25 plus $1 per day for each day the person failed to file the statement after the reporting deadline, with a maximum penalty of $150. House Bill 2615 amends the Water Code to instead make such a person liable for a penalty for each day the person fails to file the statement after the deadline in an amount capped at $100 per day if the person is the holder of a water right authorizing the appropriation of 5,000 acre-feet or less per year or at $500 per day otherwise. The bill makes a person who fails to timely comply by the applicable deadline with a request by TCEQ to make related water use information available liable for the same penalties. The bill requires the executive director of TCEQ to establish a reasonable deadline by which a person must make available such information and requires TCEQ to establish a process by which an annual water rights report may be submitted electronically through the Internet.
House Bill 2615 exempts a water rights permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication from cancellation for nonuse to the extent the nonuse resulted from a restriction on the use of the water authorized to be appropriated that was imposed under an order issued by the executive director or resulted from an inability to appropriate the water due to drought conditions.