Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 1902 creates the Rio Grande Regional Water Authority, a conservation and reclamation district coextensive with the boundaries of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Webb, Willacy, and Zapata counties except for the area inside the Laredo city limits, to supplement but not replace the jurisdiction of irrigation districts, water development supply corporations, counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions. Among other powers, the bill confers the general-law Water Code authority of municipal utility districts and water control and improvement districts, as well as authority to enter into an international cooperation agreement. The regional water authority is prohibited from imposing an ad valorem tax and may impose a fee on a public or private entity only as part of a contractual relationship with that entity. The bill does not affect any existing water rights or priorities in water rights, and it prohibits the district from condemning water rights. The bill also amends the Water Code to establish watermaster powers specific to the Rio Grande watermaster and applicable to the segment from Fort Quitman downstream. That amendment contains detailed provisions governing reservoir storage of water in transit that is being conveyed down the banks and bed of the Rio Grande under a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and it designates the watermaster as the official recorder of all documents required or authorized by the commission in connection with water rights in the lower, middle, and upper basin of the river that are subject to a permit, certified filing, or certificate of adjudication.