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By:  Armbrister                                                   S.B. No. 1377


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to landowners of groundwater whose land is enrolled or 
participating in a government conservation program.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 36.002, Water Code, is amended to read as 
follows:       
	Sec. 36.002.  OWNERSHIP OF GROUNDWATER.  The ownership and 
rights of the owners of the land and their lessees and assigns in 
groundwater are hereby recognized, and nothing in this code shall 
be construed as depriving or divesting the owners or their lessees 
and assigns of the ownership or rights, except as those rights may 
be limited or altered by rules promulgated by a district.  A rule 
promulgated by a district may not discriminate against owners of 
land or their lessees and assigns whose land is enrolled or 
participating in the federal conservation reserve program.
	SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 36.101, Water Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  A district may make and enforce rules, including rules 
limiting groundwater production based on tract size or the spacing 
of wells, to provide for conserving, preserving, protecting, and 
recharging of the groundwater or of a groundwater reservoir or its 
subdivisions in order to control subsidence, prevent degradation of 
water quality, or prevent waste of groundwater and to carry out the 
powers and duties provided by this chapter.  During the rulemaking 
process the board shall consider all groundwater uses and needs and 
shall develop rules which are fair and impartial and that do not 
discriminate between land in production and land enrolled or 
participating in the federal conservation reserve program, except 
as expressly authorized by this chapter.
	SECTION 3.  Section 36.113, Water Code, is amended by adding 
Subsection (h) to read as follows:
	(h)  In issuing a permit for an existing or historic use, a 
district may not discriminate against land or wells on land 
enrolled or participating in the federal conservation reserve 
program.  Notwithstanding Section 36.002 or 36.101, a district that 
adopts rules related to the protection of existing or historic use 
which authorize a participant in the federal conservation reserve 
program to establish existing or historic use based upon the 
participant's groundwater production during a period of time prior 
to the participant entering the federal conservation reserve 
program shall not be considered discriminatory against such a 
participant for purposes of this chapter.
	SECTION 4.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                      
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section, 
the change in law made by this Act to Section 36.002, Subsection 
(a), Section 36.101, and Section 36.113, Water Code, applies to all 
rules adopted by a groundwater conservation district on or after 
the effective date of this Act.
	(c)  The change in law made by this Act to Section 36.002, 
Subsection (a), Section 36.101, and Section 36.113, Water Code, 
does not apply to rules adopted by the Edwards Aquifer Authority.