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78R7322 RCJ-D

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 a government program.
	SECTION 2.  Section 36.101(a), 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 a government program.
	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 that has 
been enrolled or participating in a government program.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a permit for an existing or historic use that is 
issued on or after that date.  A permit for an existing or historic 
use that is issued before the effective date is governed by the law 
in effect at the time the permit was issued, and the former law is 
continued in effect for that purpose.