79R1118 QS-D

By:  Geren                                                        H.B. No. 387



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to prohibiting the Texas Commission on Environmental 
Quality from amending, interpreting, impairing, or modifying a 
written contract for the wholesale provision of water.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 11.041, Water Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (h) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  Any person entitled to receive or use water from any 
canal, ditch, flume, lateral, dam, reservoir, or lake or from any 
conserved or stored supply may present to the commission a written 
petition showing:
		(1)  that the petitioner [he] is entitled to receive or 
use the water;
		(2)  that the petitioner [he] is willing and able to pay 
a just and reasonable price for the water;
		(3)  that the party owning or controlling the water 
supply has water not contracted to others and available for the 
petitioner's use; [and]
		(4)  that the party owning or controlling the water 
supply fails or refuses to supply the available water to the 
petitioner, or that the price or rental demanded for the available 
water is not reasonable and just or is discriminatory; and
		(5)  that the petitioner does not have a current 
contract with the party owning or controlling the water supply.
	(h)  Notwithstanding any other law, the commission may not 
amend, interpret, impair, or modify a written contract for the 
wholesale provision of water for any purpose provided by this 
chapter or Chapter 12 or 13.
	SECTION 2.  Section 12.013, Water Code, is amended by adding 
Subsection (i) to read as follows:
	(i)  Notwithstanding any other law, the commission may not 
amend, interpret, impair, or modify a written contract for the 
wholesale provision of raw or treated water for any purpose 
provided by Chapter 11, this chapter, or Chapter 13.
	SECTION 3.  Section 13.041, Water Code, is amended by adding 
Subsection (h) to read as follows:
	(h)  Notwithstanding any other law, the commission may not 
amend, interpret, impair, or modify a written contract for the 
wholesale provision of water for any purpose provided by Chapter 11 
or 12 or this chapter.
	SECTION 4.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to 
a contract executed on or after the effective date of this Act.  A 
contract executed before the effective date of this Act is governed 
by the law in effect on the date the contract was executed, and the 
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.