1-1     By:  Jones of Lubbock (Senate Sponsor - Duncan)        H.B. No. 963
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House March 29, 1999;
 1-3     March 30, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; April 23, 1999, reported adversely,
 1-5     with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-6     Nays 0; April 23, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 963                 By:  Moncrief
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the protection of playa lakes by certain home-rule
1-11     municipalities.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Chapter 401, Local Government Code, is amended by
1-14     adding Section 401.004 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 401.004.  PROTECTION OF PLAYA LAKES BY CERTAIN HOME-RULE
1-16     MUNICIPALITIES.  (a)  In this section, "playa lake" means a natural
1-17     saucer-like depression in the topography, typically having a clayey
1-18     bottom that is normally located in an arid or semiarid part of the
1-19     state and collects runoff from rain but is subject to rapid
1-20     evaporation. The term includes all areas within the basin projected
1-21     to be inundated by pooled storm water runoff, as determined by an
1-22     engineering analysis performed according to the specific
1-23     requirements adopted by and in effect for a municipality.
1-24           (b)  The governing body of a home-rule municipality with a
1-25     population of 185,000 or more may regulate the filling of a playa
1-26     lake within the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction as a
1-27     means for the effective management of storm water runoff to
1-28     prevent:
1-29                 (1)  harmful flooding; or
1-30                 (2)  excess surface water.
1-31           (c)  A regulation adopted under this section may not:
1-32                 (1)  interfere with normal agricultural practices,
1-33     including moving soil, berming for tail water reuse, plowing,
1-34     seeding, cultivating, and harvesting for the production of food or
1-35     fiber; or
1-36                 (2)  prohibit any practice or activity that does not
1-37     decrease the water holding capacity of a playa lake.
1-38           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-39           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-40     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-41     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-42     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-43     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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