Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 1053 amends the Water Code to authorize the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to establish a linked deposit program to place state funds from the water pollution control revolving fund with lending institutions to be used for loans for nonpoint source pollution control projects. The maximum lending rate for a project loan is the interest rate paid the TWDB on the deposit plus four percent. A soil and water conservation district must certify an agricultural or silvicultural project proposed for that district, and the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must certify any other type of project.

            The bill eliminates a pilot program for low-interest loans for agricultural water conservation equipment, except for continued administration pending repayment of pilot program loans. It eliminates a grant program for equipment purchases by water districts and political subdivisions. It eliminates the agricultural soil and water conservation program and abolishes the associated agricultural trust fund and agricultural soil and water conservation fund, transferring their assets to the agricultural water conservation fund. Those programs, through extensive code amendments and repealers, are consolidated into a single revamped program under the agricultural water conservation fund. The bill includes a linked deposit component under that program as well, for loans for agricultural water conservation projects certified by soil and water conservation districts.