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House Bill 3656 |
House Author: Murr |
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Effective: 9-1-19 |
Senate Sponsor: Flores |
House Bill 3656 amends the law to authorize an owner of historically irrigated land in the Edwards Aquifer Authority, subject to authority approval, to sever all or a portion of the remaining water rights for the historically irrigated land which has become developed land in the same proportion as the proportion of developed land and undeveloped land or for which the owner of the historically irrigated land has demonstrated that all or a portion of the land is land no longer practicable to farm. The bill authorizes water rights used for irrigation tied to a portion of land that cannot be developed because of its topography or its location in a floodplain to be included in the proportion of land considered developed land. The bill authorizes water rights for use in irrigation severed under the bill's provisions to change in purpose or place of use. The bill authorizes the authority to adopt rules to provide for a holder of an initial regular permit for use in irrigation to lease all or part of the water rights for use in irrigation granted in the initial permit to another person for irrigating land located in the authority and authorizes the rules to allow the holder of an initial regular permit to use the water rights temporarily for irrigation at a location other than the land described in the initial regular permit.