BILL ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 1017 By: Wentworth Water 3-22-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Under current law, cities over 5,000 population are authorized to extend water quality regulations to their extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to enable cities to prevent the pollution of their water supply. Abuse of this authority has led, in at least one city, to regulatory chaos, suffocation of land development outside the city, slashes in county and school district tax rolls, rising housing costs due to stalled subdivision projects, loss of construction jobs and other economic benefits. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 1017 designates water quality protection zones within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of certain municipalities in order to provide the flexibility necessary to develop the land while ensuring the non-degradation of water quality within the area. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 26E, Water Code, by adding Section 26.179, as follows: Sec. 26.179. DESIGNATION OF WATER QUALITY PROTECTION ZONES IN CERTAIN AREAS. (a) Authorizes "water quality protection" to be achieved by maintaining background levels of water quality in waterways, or by capturing and retaining the first 1.5 inches of runoff from developed areas. (b) Defines "maintaining background levels of water quality in waterways" for the purpose of Subsection (a)(1). (c) Provides that this section applies only to those areas within the extraterritorial jurisdiction, outside the corporate limits of a municipality with a population greater than 5,000 that has extended a water pollution plan to its area of extraterritorial jurisdiction, in which the municipality has enacted or attempted to enforce three or more ordinances or amendments thereto attempting to regulate water quality within the five years preceding the effective date of this Act. (d) Authorizes the owner of a contiguous tract of land, over 1,000 acres, located within an area subject to this section, to designate the tract as a "water quality protection zone" (protection zone). Requires the tract to be deemed contiguous if all its parts are physically adjacent. Provides that the purpose of a protection zone is to provide the flexibility necessary to develop the land within the zone, but which also is intended to result in the protection of the quality of water within the zone. (e) Authorizes water quality protection techniques within a zone to include one or more of the following: state-of-the-art management practices, land planning practices, routine monitoring and maintenance, and public education. (f) Requires a protection zone designated under this section to be described by metes and bounds. Requires the designation to include a general description of the proposed land uses, a water quality plan, and a general description of the water quality facilities and infrastructure to be constructed for water quality protection in the zone. (g) Requires the creation of a protection zone to become effective immediately upon recordation of the designation in the deed records of the county where the land is located and the clerk of the county in which the property is located. (h) Requires the water quality plan for a zone to be signed and sealed by a registered professional engineer acknowledging the ability of the plan to achieve the water quality protection standard defined in this section. Requires the plan to be submitted to and accepted by the Texas Water Commission (commission) for approval, and requires the commission to accept and approve the plan unless the commission finds that implementation of the plan will not reasonably attain the water quality protection as defined in this section. Sets forth provisions for amendment to the plan, assessment of fees, and commission review and enforcement of the plan. (i) Requires the water quality plan for a zone to be a covenant running with the land. (j) Prohibits a municipality from enforcing any of its ordinances, land use ordinances, rules, or requirements and from collecting fees or assessments, or exercising powers of eminent domain within a zone until annexation of the zone. (k) Requires subdivision plats within a protection zone to be approved by the commissioners court of the county, if the plat complies with the county's subdivision design regulations and if a registered professional engineer acknowledges that the plat complies with the water quality plan currently in effect in the protection zone. (l) Presumes that a protection zone implementing a water quality plan which meets the requirements of this section satisfies all other state and local requirements for the protection of water quality. SECTION 2. Amends Section 26.177(b), Chapter 26E, Water Code, to subject the water pollution control and abatement program of a city to Section 26.179, Chapter 26E, Water Code. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.