HBA-SEP H.B. 1909 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1909 By: Junell Natural Resources 3/16/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Lipan-Kickapoo Water Conservation District (district) was created in 1987 in response to concerns of area residents about the potential contamination of groundwater from leaking oil and gas wells. At the time that the district was created, it only covered part of the Lipan Aquifer in the southern part of Tom Green County. The district would like to annex the remainder of the Lipan Aquifer in Tom Green, Concho, and Runnels counties to enable the district to manage all the aquifer and recharge zones. Currently, the district is subject to provisions regarding water control and improvement districts and underground water conservation districts. However, many of the provisions governing these districts were repealed or consolidated into other chapters of the Water Code in 1995. House Bill 1909 updates the enabling legislation for the district to allow it to annex the remainder of the Lipan Aquifer. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1909 amends law to provide that the Lipan-Kickapoo Water Conservation District (district) is subject to all the powers, duties, and contractual authority of general law and groundwater conservation districts. The bill modifies provisions relating to the composition, terms, and compensation of the district's board of directors and provides that the board consists of not fewer than 5 and not more than 11 directors. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.