By Keel H.B. No. 1693
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the designation of water quality protection zones in
1-3 certain areas.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 76, Sections 26.179(c),
1-6 (d), (f) and (g), Water Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (c) This section applies only to those areas within the
1-8 extraterritorial jurisdiction, outside the corporate limits of a
1-9 municipality with a population greater than 10,000 [5,000], and in
1-10 which the municipality either:
1-11 (1) has enacted or attempted to enforce three or more
1-12 ordinances or amendments thereto attempting to regulate water
1-13 quality or control or abate water pollution in the area within the
1-14 five years preceding the effective date of this Act, whether or not
1-15 such ordinances or amendments were legally effective upon the area;
1-16 (2) enacts or attempts to enforce three or more
1-17 ordinances or amendments thereto attempting to regulate water
1-18 quality or control or abate water pollution in the area in any
1-19 five-year period, whether or not such ordinances or amendments are
1-20 legally effective upon the area.
1-21 (d) The owner or owners of a contiguous tract of land in
2-1 excess of 1,000 acres that is located in an area subject to this
2-2 section may designate the tract as a "water quality protection
2-3 zone." Upon prior approval of the commission, the owner of a
2-4 contiguous tract of land containing less than 1,000 acres, but not
2-5 less than 500 acres, that is located within an area subject to this
2-6 section may also designate the tract as a "water quality protection
2-7 zone." The tract shall be deemed contiguous if all of its parts
2-8 are physically adjacent, without regard to easements,
2-9 rights-of-way, roads, streambeds, and public or quasi-public land,
2-10 or it is part of an integrated development under common ownership
2-11 or control. The purpose of a water quality protection zone is to
2-12 provide for the consistent protection of water quality in the zone
2-13 without imposing undue regulatory uncertainty on owners of land in
2-14 the zone [the flexibility necessary to facilitate the development
2-15 of the land within the zone, but which also is intended to result
2-16 in the protection of the quality of water within the zone].
2-17 (f) Creation of a water quality protection zone shall become
2-18 immediately effective upon recordation of the designation in the
2-19 deed records of the county in which the land is located. The
2-20 designation shall be signed by the owner or owners of the land, and
2-21 notice of such filing shall be given to the city clerk of the
2-22 municipality within whose extraterritorial jurisdiction the zone is
2-23 located and the clerk of the county in which the property is
2-24 located. A water quality protection zone designation may be
2-25 amended from time to time, and a designation may specify the party
3-1 or parties authorized to execute amendments to the zone designation
3-2 and the zone's water quality plan. Land may be added to or deleted
3-3 from a zone by amending the zone designation, and such amendments
3-4 are effective upon filing in the deed records of the county in
3-5 which the land is located. Upon application by all owners of land
3-6 in a zone, or by the party or parties so authorized by a zone
3-7 designation or amendment thereto, the commission may terminate a
3-8 zone upon such reasonable terms and conditions as the commission
3-9 shall specify.
3-10 (g) The water quality plan for a zone, including the
3-11 determination of background levels of water quality, shall be
3-12 signed and sealed by a registered professional engineer
3-13 acknowledging that the plan is designed to achieve the water
3-14 quality protection standard defined in this section. On
3-15 recordation in the deed records, the water quality plan shall be
3-16 submitted to and accepted by the commission for approval, and the
3-17 commission shall accept and approve the plan unless the commission
3-18 finds that implementation of the plan will not reasonably attain
3-19 the water quality protection as defined in this section. A water
3-20 quality plan may be amended from time to time on filing with the
3-21 commission, and all such amendments shall be accepted by the
3-22 commission unless there is a finding that the amendment will impair
3-23 the attainment of water quality protection as defined in this
3-24 section. The commission shall adopt and assess reasonable and
3-25 necessary fees adequate to recover the costs of the commission in
4-1 administering this section. The commission's review and approval
4-2 of a water quality plan shall be performed by the commission staff
4-3 that is responsible for reviewing pollution abatement plans in the
4-4 county where the zone is located. The review and approval of the
4-5 plan or any amendment thereto shall be completed within 120 days of
4-6 the date it is filed with the commission. A public hearing on the
4-7 plan shall not be required, and acceptance, review, and approval of
4-8 the water quality plan or water quality protection zone shall not
4-9 be delayed pending the adoption of rules. The commission shall
4-10 have the burden of proof for the denial of a plan or amendments to
4-11 a plan, and any such denial shall be appealable to a court of
4-12 competent jurisdiction. The water quality plan, or any amendment
4-13 thereto, shall be effective upon recordation of the plan or the
4-14 amendment in the deed records and shall apply during the period of
4-15 review and approval by the commission or appeal of the denial of
4-16 the plan or any amendment; provided, however, that new development
4-17 under a plan shall not proceed until the plan, or amendment, as
4-18 applicable, has been approved by the commission.
4-19 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-25 passage, and it is so enacted.