By Walker                                              H.B. No. 340
         76R1162 MCK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the exemption from permitting requirements for certain
 1-3     wells in a groundwater conservation district.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 36.117(a), Water Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A district may exempt wells from the requirements to
 1-8     obtain a drilling permit, an operating permit, or any other permit
 1-9     required by this chapter or the district's rules.  A district may
1-10     not require a permit for:
1-11                 (1)  drilling or producing from a well either drilled,
1-12     completed, or equipped so that it is incapable of producing more
1-13     than 25,000 gallons of groundwater a day;
1-14                 (2)  the drilling or alteration of the size of a well
1-15     or to restrict the production of a well if the water produced or to
1-16     be produced from the well is used or to be used to supply the
1-17     domestic needs of 10 or fewer households and a person who is a
1-18     member of each household is either the owner of the well, a person
1-19     related to the owner or a member of the owner's household within
1-20     the second degree by consanguinity, or an employee of the owner;
1-21                 (3)  the drilling or alteration of the size of a well
1-22     or to restrict the production from the well if the water produced
1-23     or to be produced from the well is used or to be used to provide
1-24     water for feeding livestock and poultry connected with farming,
 2-1     ranching, or dairy enterprises; or
 2-2                 (4)  water wells to supply water for hydrocarbon
 2-3     production activities, regardless of whether those wells are
 2-4     producing, that are associated with any well permitted by the
 2-5     Railroad Commission of Texas drilled before September 1, 1985[; or]
 2-6                 [(5)  jet wells used for domestic needs].
 2-7           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.