SLC H.B. 2030 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS LAND & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT H.B. 2030 By: Turner, Bob 4-11-97 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND Chapter 232, Local Government Code, provides counties authority to establish and enforce minimal standards for new subdivisions outside of cities. Commissioners Courts have authority to adopt seven specific types of requirements for new subdivisions, four of which directly relate to new roads, one to drainage, one to disclosure of water availability, and one requiring an owner subdividing land to execute a bond to cover costs of road construction. Commissioners Courts review plats for compliance with county regulations and must approve them before they may be filed. City subdivision regulation authority is much broader. 212.002, Local Government Code, allows a city to adopt any requirement of new subdivisions "to promote the health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the municipality." In recent years, a greater amount of new development has taken place outside of cities, including areas recently designated by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) as areas with critical groundwater problems. In these so-called critical areas, new development often results in a greater demand for groundwater than there is water available. When property is subdivided, the increased groundwater usage causes the water table to drop and existing water wells to go dry. In some cases the new subdivision does not have access to adequate groundwater. The current ability to require disclosure of water availability requires the developer to state that water would be supplied through owner-drilled wells, but does not require the developer to demonstrate that adequate groundwater is available. PURPOSE HB 2030 provides Commissioners Courts in areas declared as "critical areas" by the TNRCC the authority to require owners of land who wish to subdivide their land to demonstrate that adequate groundwater exists to support the new development. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does grant additional rulemaking authority to commissioners courts in Sec. 232.011(b) by allowing them to "adopt water availability requirements". Sec. 232.011(d) also grants rulemaking authority by allowing commissioners courts to "adopt procedures for the form of submitting" information, as well as, the ability to "adopt standards or formulas" in determining adequate water supplies. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter A, Chp. 232, Local Gov. Code, by adding Sec. 232.011 as follows: Sec. 232.011. WATER AVAILABILITY. (a) Authorizes Commissioners' Courts in areas declared as critical areas by the TNRCC to establish water availability requirements for owners of land seeking approval of a subdivision plat within the county; (b) allows a Commissioners Court to determine the requirements that are necessary to balance water management practices needed to prevent water usage from exceeding availability before adopting the regulations; (c) authorizes Commissioners' Courts to require applicants to demonstrate that sufficient quantity and quality of underground water is available to supply the lots proposed for the subdivision, either through wells or a water supply system; (d) authorizes Commissioners' Courts to adopt procedures for the form of submitting the information and allows the court to adopt standards or formulas to determine if adequate groundwater exists; and (e) authorizes Commissioners' Courts to require a person requesting plat approval or attempting to sell a lot in the subdivision to: (1) notify a lot purchaser if no approved water supply exists and assist them with information, including well log data, necessary for the purchaser to develop a private water supply. (2) meet state, federal, and local law and establish a water supply company if building a subdivision water supply system. (3) Commissioners' Courts may require any planned or operating water supply system in the subdivision to be built or operated in a way that minimizes high-to-excessive concentrations of dissolved solids or minerals and ensures compliance with federal and state water quality standards. SECTION 2. Applicability clause and effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Committee Amendment No. 1 by: Mowery This amendment strikes the words "sufficient number of wells" and replaces them with the words "test well". This allows the commissioners court to require an applicant to drill a "test well", if sufficient area well log data is not available.