Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 1165 amends provisions of the Water Code relating to the designation of water quality protection zones. The act applies to areas within the extraterritorial jurisdiction, but outside the corporate limits, of a municipality with a population greater than 10,000, and in which the municipality has attempted to enact or enforce three or more ordinances or amendments to regulate water quality or control or abate water pollution in the area within a five-year period. The act clarifies that the purpose of a water quality protection zone is to provide consistent protection of water quality in the zone without imposing undue regulatory uncertainty on land owners, and requires such zones to be described by metes and bounds or other adequate legal description.

            Senate Bill 1165 authorizes the amendment of a water quality protection zone designation and establishes that parties specified by the designation may execute amendments to add or exclude land in the zone or to change the zone's water quality plan. Upon application by all land owners within the zone, or by all parties authorized by the zone designation or amendment, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) may terminate a zone if certain terms and conditions specified by the TNRCC are met. New development under a water quality plan may not proceed until the plan or amendment to the plan has been approved by the TNRCC.

            The act also establishes that all actions taken by the TNRCC or another state agency before the effective date of the act relating to the establishment of a water quality protection zone, a water quality protection plan for a zone, or an amendment to a designation or plan are ratified, validated, approved, and confirmed.