1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 897
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 1999; March 8, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 March 25, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
1-5 Nays 0; March 25, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the eligibility of political subdivisions for loans
1-9 under the agricultural water conservation bond program.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subdivisions (2) and (6), Section 17.871, Water
1-12 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-13 (2) "Borrower district" means a political subdivision,
1-14 including a district or authority created under Article III,
1-15 Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), or Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas
1-16 Constitution, that receives or is eligible to receive a
1-17 conservation loan from the board for a purpose described by Section
1-18 17.895 or 17.8955 [improvement to district facilities].
1-19 (6) "Lender district" means a political subdivision,
1-20 including a soil and water conservation district under Chapter 201,
1-21 Agriculture Code, an underground water conservation district
1-22 created under Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution,
1-23 or a district or authority created under Article III, Section
1-24 52(b)(1), or Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution
1-25 authorized to supply water for irrigation purposes, that is
1-26 eligible to receive or that receives a loan from the board for the
1-27 purpose of making conservation loans to individual borrowers.
1-28 SECTION 2. Subchapter J, Chapter 17, Water Code, is amended
1-29 by amending Section 17.895 and adding Section 17.8955 to read as
1-30 follows:
1-31 Sec. 17.895. CONSERVATION LOANS. (a) This section applies
1-32 only to a conservation loan:
1-33 (1) from a lender district that is:
1-34 (A) a soil and water conservation district under
1-35 Chapter 201, Agriculture Code;
1-36 (B) an underground water conservation district
1-37 created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution; or
1-38 (C) a district or authority created under
1-39 Section 52(b)(1), Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas
1-40 Constitution, authorized to supply water for irrigation purposes;
1-41 or
1-42 (2) to a borrower district that is a district or
1-43 authority created under Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article III, or
1-44 Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
1-45 (b) The board or a lender district [districts] may make
1-46 conservation loans for capital equipment or materials, labor,
1-47 preparation costs, and installation costs:
1-48 (1) to improve water use efficiency of water delivery
1-49 and application on existing irrigation systems;
1-50 (2) for preparing irrigated land to be converted to
1-51 dryland conditions; and
1-52 (3) for preparing dryland for more efficient use of
1-53 natural precipitation[;]
1-54 [(4) for preparing and maintaining land to be used for
1-55 brush control activities, including but not limited to activities
1-56 conducted pursuant to Chapter 203, Agriculture Code; or]
1-57 [(5) for implementing precipitation enhancement
1-58 activities in areas of the state where such activities would be, in
1-59 the board's judgment, most effective].
1-60 (c) [(b)] Conservation loans for the purposes listed in
1-61 Subsection (b) [(a)] may be made by lender districts to individual
1-62 borrowers for use on private property or by the board to borrower
1-63 districts [for use on district facilities].
1-64 (d) [(c)] The board may make conservation loans to borrower
2-1 districts for the cost of purchasing and installing devices, on
2-2 public or private property, designed to indicate the amount of
2-3 water withdrawn for irrigation purposes.
2-4 Sec. 17.8955. CONSERVATION LOANS FOR BRUSH CONTROL AND
2-5 PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT. (a) The board or a lender district may
2-6 make a conservation loan for capital equipment or materials, labor,
2-7 preparation costs, and installation costs for:
2-8 (1) preparing and maintaining land to be used for
2-9 brush control activities, including activities conducted under
2-10 Chapter 203, Agriculture Code; or
2-11 (2) implementing precipitation enhancement activities
2-12 in areas of the state where those activities would be, in the
2-13 board's judgment, most effective.
2-14 (b) A conservation loan for a purpose listed in Subsection
2-15 (a) may be made by a lender district to an individual borrower for
2-16 use on private property or by the board to a borrower district.
2-17 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-18 to a conservation loan for which an application is filed on or
2-19 after the effective date of this Act. A conservation loan for
2-20 which an application was filed before the effective date of this
2-21 Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the
2-22 effective date, and that law is continued in effect for that
2-23 purpose.
2-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-28 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-29 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-30 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-31 * * * * *