1-1 By: Truan S.B. No. 76
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed December 2, 1998; January 26, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Special Committee on Border
1-4 Affairs; March 8, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0;
1-6 March 8, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 76 By: Truan
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to requiring the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
1-11 Commission to develop a water availability model for the Rio
1-12 Grande.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Section 16.012, Water Code, is amended by adding
1-15 a new Subsection (h), amending and relettering existing Subsection
1-16 (h) as Subsection (i), and relettering existing Subsections (i) and
1-17 (j) as Subsections (j) and (k) to read as follows:
1-18 (h) Not later than December 31, 2003, the commission shall
1-19 obtain or develop an updated water availability model for the Rio
1-20 Grande. Recognizing that the Rio Grande is an international river
1-21 touching on three states of the United States and five states of
1-22 the United Mexican States and draining an area larger than the
1-23 State of Texas, the model shall encompass water rights granted by
1-24 jurisdictions outside this state as well as the unique geology and
1-25 hydrology of the region. The commission shall collect data from
1-26 all jurisdictions that allocate the waters of the river, including
1-27 jurisdictions outside this state.
1-28 (i) Within 90 days of completing a water availability model
1-29 for a river basin, the commission shall provide to all holders of
1-30 existing permits, certified filings, and certificates of
1-31 adjudication in that river basin the projected amount of water that
1-32 would be available: during a drought of record; when flows are at
1-33 75 percent of normal; and when flows are at 50 percent of normal.
1-34 With regard to the Rio Grande, the commission shall notify all
1-35 holders of any existing Texas water right in the waters of the
1-36 river who reside in or have corporate resident status in this
1-37 state.
1-38 (j) [(i)] Within 90 days of completing a water availability
1-39 model for a river basin, the commission shall provide to each
1-40 regional water planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
1-41 code in that river basin the projected amount of water that would
1-42 be available if cancellation procedures were instigated under the
1-43 provisions of Subchapter E, Chapter 11, of this code.
1-44 (k) [(j)] Within 90 days of completing a water availability
1-45 model for a river basin, the commission, in coordination with the
1-46 Parks and Wildlife Department, shall determine the potential impact
1-47 of reusing municipal and industrial effluent on existing water
1-48 rights, instream uses, and freshwater inflows to bays and
1-49 estuaries. Within 30 days of making this determination, the
1-50 commission shall provide the projections to the board and each
1-51 regional water planning group created under Section 16.053 of this
1-52 code in that river basin.
1-53 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-54 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-55 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-56 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-57 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-58 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-59 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-60 * * * * *