By:  Truan, et al.                                      S.B. No. 76
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to requiring the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
 1-2     Commission to develop a water supply model for the Rio Grande.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 16.012, Water Code, is amended by adding
 1-5     a new Subsection (h) and redesignating existing Subsections (h),
 1-6     (i), and (j) as Subsections (i), (j), and (k) to read as follows:
 1-7           (h)  Not later than December 31, 2003, the commission shall
 1-8     obtain or develop an updated water supply model for the Rio Grande.
 1-9     Recognizing that the Rio Grande is an international river touching
1-10     on three states of the United States and five states of the United
1-11     Mexican States and draining an area larger than the State of Texas,
1-12     the model shall encompass to the extent practicable the significant
1-13     water demands within the watershed of the river as well as the
1-14     unique geology and hydrology of the region.  The commission may
1-15     collect data from all jurisdictions that allocate the waters of the
1-16     river, including jurisdictions outside this state.  The model must
1-17     be capable of evaluating the effects of allowing cities on the Rio
1-18     Grande to receive credit for wastewater flows that are returned to
1-19     the river.
1-20           (i)  Within 90 days of completing a water availability model
1-21     for a river basin, the commission shall provide to all holders of
1-22     existing permits, certified filings, and certificates of
1-23     adjudication in that river basin the projected amount of water that
1-24     would be available:  during a drought of record;  when flows are at
 2-1     75 percent of normal; and when flows are at 50 percent of normal.
 2-2           (j) [(i)]  Within 90 days of completing a water availability
 2-3     model for a river basin, the commission shall provide to each
 2-4     regional water planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
 2-5     code in that river basin the projected amount of water that would
 2-6     be available if cancellation procedures were instigated under the
 2-7     provisions of Subchapter E, Chapter 11, of this code.
 2-8           (k) [(j)]  Within 90 days of completing a water availability
 2-9     model for a river basin, the commission, in coordination with the
2-10     Parks and Wildlife Department, shall determine the potential impact
2-11     of reusing municipal and industrial effluent on existing water
2-12     rights, instream uses, and freshwater inflows to bays and
2-13     estuaries.  Within 30 days of making this determination, the
2-14     commission shall provide the projections to the board and each
2-15     regional water planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
2-16     code in that river basin.
2-17           SECTION 2.  The implementation of Subsection (h), Section
2-18     16.012, Water Code, as added by this Act, is contingent on the
2-19     appropriation by the 77th Legislature of funds for the purpose of
2-20     that subsection.
2-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-1     passage, and it is so enacted.