By Willis                                              H.B. No. 475
       74R1098 JJT-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the right to divert state water for irrigation of
    1-3  certain cemeteries.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 11.121, Water Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 11.121.  Permit Required.  Except as provided in
    1-8  Sections 11.142, <and> 11.1421, and 11.1422 of this code, no person
    1-9  may appropriate any state water or begin construction of any work
   1-10  designed for the storage, taking, or diversion of water without
   1-11  first obtaining a permit from the commission to make the
   1-12  appropriation.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 11, Water Code, is amended
   1-14  by adding Section 11.1422 to read as follows:
   1-15        Sec. 11.1422.  PERMIT EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN CEMETERIES.  (a)
   1-16  Without obtaining a permit, a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation that
   1-17  owns a cemetery that borders a river may divert from the river not
   1-18  more than 200 acre-feet of water each year to irrigate the grounds
   1-19  of the cemetery.
   1-20        (b)  The executive director or a watermaster who has
   1-21  jurisdiction over the river from which a cemetery diverts water
   1-22  under this section may by order restrict a diversion authorized by
   1-23  this section if the executive director or watermaster determines
   1-24  the diversion will harm a person downstream of the cemetery who
    2-1  acquired a water right before September 1, 1995.  The executive
    2-2  director or watermaster shall limit the restriction to the extent
    2-3  of the harm and to the period of the harm.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-5        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.