By Averitt                                            H.B. No. 2847
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the authority of the Brazos River Authority to
 1-3     discover, develop, produce and use groundwater in the Brazos River
 1-4     Basin and environs.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           ARTICLE 1.
 1-7           SECTION 1.01. Vernon's Civil Statute Article 8280-101, Water
 1-8     Auxiliary Laws (2001 Pamphlet), as amended, is further amended by
 1-9     adding the following:
1-10           SECTION 2 is amended as follows:  "The Brazos River
1-11     Conservation and Reclamation District is created as a governmental
1-12     agency, a municipality, a body politic and corporate, vested with
1-13     all the authority as such under the Constitution and Laws of the
1-14     State; . . . as such District shall have and be recognized to
1-15     exercise such authority and power of control and regulation over
1-16     such storm and flood waters of the Brazos River and its tributaries
1-17     as may be exercised by the State of Texas, subject to the
1-18     provisions of the Constitution and Laws of the Legislature.  In
1-19     addition, the Brazos River Authority shall have and is recognized
1-20     to exercise such authority to discover, develop, produce and use
1-21     groundwater in the Brazos River Basin and environs."
1-22           SECTION 3 is amended as follows:  "The Brazos River
1-23     Conservation and Reclamation District shall have and be recognized
 2-1     to exercise, in addition to all of the general powers vested by
 2-2     virtue of the constitution and statutes of a governmental agency
 2-3     and body politic and corporate, for the greatest practicable
 2-4     measure of the conservation and beneficial utilization of a storm,
 2-5     flood, and unappropriated flow waters and groundwater, the powers
 2-6     of control and employment of such flood, storm, and unappropriated
 2-7     flow waters and groundwater of the said district in the manner and
 2-8     particular purposes herein set forth."
 2-9           SECTION 3 Is further amended as follows: "(j)  To develop and
2-10     make groundwater available for use for domestic, municipal,
2-11     irrigation, commercial and industrial purposes."
2-12           SECTION 4 is amended as follows:  "The powers and duties
2-13     herein devolved upon the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation
2-14     District are recognized to be taken subject to all legislative
2-15     declarations of public policy in the maximum utilization of the
2-16     storm, flood and unappropriated flow waters of the Brazos River
2-17     watershed and develop groundwater of the Brazos River Basin and
2-18     environs for the purposes for which the district is created . . ."
2-19           SECTION 6 is amended as follows:  "In the prosecution of the
2-20     plans for which the district has been created for the storing,
2-21     controlling, conserving and distributing to useful purposes of the
2-22     storm, flood, and unappropriated flow waters of the Brazos River
2-23     watershed and developed groundwater from the Brazos River Basin and
2-24     environs, the district shall be recognized to have the right to
2-25     make use of the bed and banks of the accomplishment of the plans of
2-26     the district (Chapter 19, Acts of the 44th Legislature, Regular
 3-1     session, 1935.)"
 3-2           SECTION 5-b is amended as follows:  "Nothing in this Act
 3-3     shall have the effect of changing any existing priority or right
 3-4     under the laws of the state to the use of waters of the State of
 3-5     Texas including any rights of municipalities which maintain and use
 3-6     storage structures in the bed of the Brazos River or tributaries.
 3-7     (Chapter 194, Acts of the 53rd Legislature, Regular Session,
 3-8     1953.)"
 3-9           SECTION 1.02.  EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect on
3-10     September 1, 2001.
3-11           SECTION 1.03.  EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-12     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.