By Truan                                                S.B. No. 76
         76R1939 MI-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
 1-3     Commission to develop a water availability model for the Rio
 1-4     Grande.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 16.012, Water Code, is amended by adding
 1-7     a new Subsection (h), amending and relettering existing Subsection
 1-8     (h) as Subsection (i), and relettering existing Subsections (i) and
 1-9     (j) as Subsections (j) and (k) to read as follows:
1-10           (h)  Not later than December 1, 2001, the commission shall
1-11     obtain or develop an updated water availability model for the Rio
1-12     Grande.   Recognizing that the Rio Grande is an international river
1-13     touching on eight states and 19 tribes and pueblos, the model shall
1-14     encompass water rights granted by jurisdictions outside this state
1-15     as well as the unique geology and hydrology of the region.  The
1-16     commission shall collect data from all jurisdictions that allocate
1-17     the waters of the river, including jurisdictions outside this
1-18     state.
1-19           (i)  Within 90 days of completing a water availability model
1-20     for a river basin, the commission shall provide to all holders of
1-21     existing  permits, certified filings, and certificates of
1-22     adjudication in that river basin the projected amount of water that
1-23     would be available:  during a drought of record;  when flows are at
1-24     75 percent of normal; and when flows are at 50 percent of normal.
 2-1     With regard to the Rio Grande, the commission shall notify all
 2-2     holders of any existing type of water right in the waters of the
 2-3     river who  reside in or have corporate resident status in this
 2-4     state.
 2-5           (j) [(i)]  Within 90 days of completing a water availability
 2-6     model for a river basin, the commission shall provide to each
 2-7     regional water  planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
 2-8     code in that river basin the projected amount of water that would
 2-9     be available if cancellation procedures were instigated under the
2-10     provisions of Subchapter E, Chapter 11, of this code.
2-11           (k) [(j)]  Within 90 days of completing a water availability
2-12     model for a river basin, the commission, in coordination with the
2-13     Parks and  Wildlife Department, shall determine the potential
2-14     impact of reusing municipal and industrial effluent on existing
2-15     water rights, instream uses, and freshwater inflows to bays and
2-16     estuaries.  Within 30 days of making this determination, the
2-17     commission shall provide the projections to the board and each
2-18     regional water planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
2-19     code in that river basin.
2-20           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-25     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-26     passage, and it is so enacted.