Amend CSSB 738 (committee printing) as follows:                              
	(1)  In SECTION 2 of the bill, in the introductory language 
(page 1, line 42), strike "and 36.114, Water Code, are" and 
substitute ", Water Code, is".
	(2)  In SECTION 2 of the bill, in amended Section 36.113, 
Water Code (page 2, lines 43-45), strike stricken Subsection (g) 
and substitute the following:
	(g)  In implementing Subsection (e) or Section 36.116(b), a 
district may require an existing or historic user to prove the 
maximum annual amount of groundwater that the user applied to a 
beneficial use during a reasonable period established by the 
district that ends on or before the date on which the district 
publishes notice or adopts rules protecting existing or historic 
users under Subsection (e) or Section 36.116(b) [A district may 
require that changes in the withdrawal and use of groundwater under 
a permit not be made without the prior approval of a permit 
amendment issued by the district].
	(h)  In implementing Subsection (g), a district may:                    
		(1)  for a user who produced groundwater only within 
the final year of the period established under Subsection (g), 
issue a permit for existing or historic use based on an 
extrapolation of the user's beneficial use of groundwater to the 
amount that would have been used in a full calendar year for the 
same beneficial use;
		(2)  for use based on agricultural irrigation, issue a 
permit based on:
			(A)  the maximum annual amount of groundwater 
actually used during the period established under Subsection (g); 
or
			(B)  the acreage irrigated during the period 
established under Subsection (g); or
		(3)  for an electric utility, a power generation 
company, or retail electric provider as defined by Section 31.002, 
Utilities Code, issue a permit based on:
			(A)  the amount actually used as computed under 
and for the period established under Subsection (g) or Subdivision 
(1) of this subsection; or
			(B)  an amount necessary to annually provide 
sufficient groundwater for cooling, boiler make-up, and potable 
purposes for use at an existing or planned power generation 
facility using land or the right to produce groundwater from land 
that was acquired by the electric utility, power generation 
company, or retail electric provider before May 1, 2003, to supply 
water to power generation facilities that on that date existed or 
were planned for future construction.
	(i)  An annual report of groundwater use previously 
submitted to a state agency is admissible as evidence of existing or 
historic use under Subsection (g) or (h).
	(3)  In SECTION 2 of the bill, between amended Sections 
36.113 and 36.114, Water Code (page 2, between lines 45 and 46), 
insert the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS and renumber 
subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
	SECTION ____.  Subchapter D, Chapter 36, Water Code, is 
amended by adding Section 36.1132 to read as follows:
	Sec. 36.1132.  DEFINED HISTORIC USE PERIODS FOR CERTAIN 
DISTRICTS.  (a)  This section applies only to a groundwater 
conservation district created under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas 
Constitution, that:
		(1)  is, at least in part, adjacent to an international 
border;      
		(2)  has within its boundaries a part of an aquifer that 
is regulated under Chapter 626, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, 
Regular Session, 1993; and
		(3)  is not regulated under Chapter 626, Acts of the 
73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993.
	(b)  In implementing Section 36.113(e) or 36.116(b),  and 
notwithstanding the periods described under Sections 36.113(g)(1) 
and (2), a district may institute a process requiring an existing or 
historic user to prove the maximum annual amount of groundwater 
that the user applied to a beneficial use during the period from:
		(1)  June 1, 1972, to December 31, 1991; or                            
		(2)  January 1, 1992, to January 7, 2003.                              
	(c)  In implementing Subsection (b), for a user who produced 
groundwater only within the final year of the period established 
under Subsection (b)(2), a district shall issue a permit for 
existing or historic use based on an extrapolation of the user's 
beneficial use of groundwater to the amount that would have been 
used in a full calendar year for the same beneficial use.
	(d)  If a district limits or reduces total permitted 
production within its boundaries in a manner consistent with its 
certified groundwater district management plan under Section 
36.1072, the district shall limit or reduce the amount of permitted 
production of groundwater through proportionate reductions that 
will apply equally among classes of users in the following order, 
with all limitations or reductions that can be made in one class 
being made in that class before proceeding with limitations or 
reductions in the next subsequent class:
		(1)  new users, except as provided by Subdivision (2);                 
		(2)  the class of users described by Subsections (b)(1) 
and (c), or any new user who was issued a permit by the district on 
or before May 1, 2003, for the amount recognized in the permit; and
		(3)  the class of users described by Subsection (b)(2).                
	SECTION ____.  Section 36.114, Water Code, is amended to read 
as follows:    
	(4)  Between SECTIONS 5 and 6 of the bill (page 5, between 
lines 63 and 64), insert the following appropriately numbered 
SECTION and renumber subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
	SECTION ____.  (a)  The legislature finds that:                                
		(1)  groundwater conservation districts have existing 
statutory authority to protect existing or historic use under 
Sections 36.113(e) and 36.116(b), Water Code;
		(2)  in implementing Sections 36.113(e) and 36.116(b), 
Water Code, it is important that groundwater conservation 
districts, in the conservation and management of groundwater, adopt 
precise rules regarding existing or historic use of groundwater, 
and that those rules may include definite time periods during which 
existing or historic use must be proven; and
		(3)  it will benefit the state and its citizens to set 
express statutory guidelines that clarify the ability of 
groundwater conservation districts to define and identify existing 
or historic use periods.
	(b)  The changes in law made by this Act do not:                               
		(1)  limit the express or implied powers that 
groundwater conservation districts had before the effective date of 
this Act to implement Sections 36.113(e) and 36.116(b), Water Code, 
using reasonable time periods during which existing or historic use 
must be proven by a permit applicant; or
		(2)  invalidate rules lawfully adopted by a groundwater 
conservation district before the effective date of this Act that 
use those reasonable time periods.
	(c)  A district to which Section 36.1132, Water Code, as 
added by this Act, applies may require a well that was previously 
exempted by district rule from the permitting procedures of the 
district but that is not exempt under Section 36.117(b), Water 
Code, and is no longer exempted by district rule, as of the 
effective date of this Act, to comply with the permitting 
procedures and rules of the district, as amended.  This subsection 
does not apply to the requirement to obtain a permit to drill, 
equip, or complete a well that was drilled, equipped, or completed 
under an exemption by district rule before the date of repeal of the 
exemption; however, this subsection does apply to the production of 
groundwater from or operation of such a well.