1-1 By: Walker (Senate Sponsor - Bivins) H.B. No. 340
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
1-3 April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Natural Resources; May 5, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the exemption from permitting requirements for certain
1-9 wells in a groundwater conservation district.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 36.117(a), Water Code, is amended to read
1-12 as follows:
1-13 (a) A district may exempt wells from the requirements to
1-14 obtain a drilling permit, an operating permit, or any other permit
1-15 required by this chapter or the district's rules. A district may
1-16 not require a permit for:
1-17 (1) drilling or producing from a well either drilled,
1-18 completed, or equipped so that it is incapable of producing more
1-19 than 25,000 gallons of groundwater a day;
1-20 (2) the drilling or alteration of the size of a well
1-21 or to restrict the production of a well if the water produced or to
1-22 be produced from the well is used or to be used to supply the
1-23 domestic needs of 10 or fewer households and a person who is a
1-24 member of each household is either the owner of the well, a person
1-25 related to the owner or a member of the owner's household within
1-26 the second degree by consanguinity, or an employee of the owner;
1-27 (3) the drilling or alteration of the size of a well
1-28 or to restrict the production from the well if the water produced
1-29 or to be produced from the well is used or to be used to provide
1-30 water for feeding livestock and poultry connected with farming,
1-31 ranching, or dairy enterprises; or
1-32 (4) water wells to supply water for hydrocarbon
1-33 production activities, regardless of whether those wells are
1-34 producing, that are associated with any well permitted by the
1-35 Railroad Commission of Texas drilled before September 1, 1985[; or]
1-36 [(5) jet wells used for domestic needs].
1-37 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-38 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-39 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-40 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-41 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-42 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-43 * * * * *