By: Brown S.B. No. 897
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the eligibility of political subdivisions for loans
1-2 under the agricultural water conservation bond program.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivisions (2) and (6), Section 17.871, Water
1-5 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (2) "Borrower district" means a political subdivision,
1-7 including a district or authority created under Article III,
1-8 Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), or Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas
1-9 Constitution, that receives or is eligible to receive a
1-10 conservation loan from the board for a purpose described by Section
1-11 17.895 or 17.8955 [improvement to district facilities].
1-12 (6) "Lender district" means a political subdivision,
1-13 including a soil and water conservation district under Chapter 201,
1-14 Agriculture Code, an underground water conservation district
1-15 created under Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution,
1-16 or a district or authority created under Article III, Section
1-17 52(b)(1), or Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution
1-18 authorized to supply water for irrigation purposes, that is
1-19 eligible to receive or that receives a loan from the board for the
1-20 purpose of making conservation loans to individual borrowers.
1-21 SECTION 2. Subchapter J, Chapter 17, Water Code, is amended
1-22 by amending Section 17.895 and adding Section 17.8955 to read as
1-23 follows:
1-24 Sec. 17.895. CONSERVATION LOANS. (a) This section applies
2-1 only to a conservation loan:
2-2 (1) from a lender district that is:
2-3 (A) a soil and water conservation district under
2-4 Chapter 201, Agriculture Code;
2-5 (B) an underground water conservation district
2-6 created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution; or
2-7 (C) a district or authority created under
2-8 Section 52(b)(1), Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
2-9 Constitution, authorized to supply water for irrigation purposes;
2-10 or
2-11 (2) to a borrower district that is a district or
2-12 authority created under Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article III, or
2-13 Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
2-14 (b) The board or a lender district [districts] may make
2-15 conservation loans for capital equipment or materials, labor,
2-16 preparation costs, and installation costs:
2-17 (1) to improve water use efficiency of water delivery
2-18 and application on existing irrigation systems;
2-19 (2) for preparing irrigated land to be converted to
2-20 dryland conditions; and
2-21 (3) for preparing dryland for more efficient use of
2-22 natural precipitation[;]
2-23 [(4) for preparing and maintaining land to be used for
2-24 brush control activities, including but not limited to activities
2-25 conducted pursuant to Chapter 203, Agriculture Code; or]
2-26 [(5) for implementing precipitation enhancement
3-1 activities in areas of the state where such activities would be, in
3-2 the board's judgment, most effective].
3-3 (c) [(b)] Conservation loans for the purposes listed in
3-4 Subsection (b) [(a)] may be made by lender districts to individual
3-5 borrowers for use on private property or by the board to borrower
3-6 districts [for use on district facilities].
3-7 (d) [(c)] The board may make conservation loans to borrower
3-8 districts for the cost of purchasing and installing devices, on
3-9 public or private property, designed to indicate the amount of
3-10 water withdrawn for irrigation purposes.
3-11 Sec. 17.8955. CONSERVATION LOANS FOR BRUSH CONTROL AND
3-12 PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT. (a) The board or a lender district may
3-13 make a conservation loan for capital equipment or materials, labor,
3-14 preparation costs, and installation costs for:
3-15 (1) preparing and maintaining land to be used for
3-16 brush control activities, including activities conducted under
3-17 Chapter 203, Agriculture Code; or
3-18 (2) implementing precipitation enhancement activities
3-19 in areas of the state where those activities would be, in the
3-20 board's judgment, most effective.
3-21 (b) A conservation loan for a purpose listed in Subsection
3-22 (a) may be made by a lender district to an individual borrower for
3-23 use on private property or by the board to a borrower district.
3-24 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
3-25 to a conservation loan for which an application is filed on or
3-26 after the effective date of this Act. A conservation loan for
4-1 which an application was filed before the effective date of this
4-2 Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
4-3 effective date, and that law is continued in effect for that
4-4 purpose.
4-5 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-11 passage, and it is so enacted.