H.B. No. 2423
AN ACT
relating to discrimination by a groundwater conservation district
against landowners whose land is enrolled or participating in a
federal conservation program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.001, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subdivision (4-a) to read as follows:
(4-a) "Federal conservation program" means the
Conservation Reserve Program of the United States Department of
Agriculture, or any successor program.
SECTION 2. 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 between owners of
land that is irrigated for production and owners of land or their
lessees and assigns whose land that was irrigated for production is
enrolled or participating in a federal conservation program.
SECTION 3. 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 that is irrigated for production and land
that was irrigated for production and enrolled or participating in
a federal conservation program. Any rule of a district that
discriminates between land that is irrigated for production and
land that was irrigated for production and enrolled or
participating in a federal conservation program is void.
SECTION 4. Section 36.113, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (h) and (i) to read as follows:
(h) In issuing a permit for an existing or historic use, a
district may not discriminate between land that is irrigated for
production and land or wells on land that was irrigated for
production and enrolled or participating in a federal conservation
program.
(i) A permitting decision by a district is void if:
(1) the district makes its decision in violation of
Subsection (h); and
(2) the district would have reached a different
decision if the district had treated land or wells on land that was
irrigated for production and enrolled or participating in a federal
conservation program the same as land irrigated for production.
SECTION 5. Not later than the 90th day after the effective
date of this Act, the Hudspeth County Underground Water
Conservation District No. 1 shall amend to bring into compliance
with Sections 36.002 and 36.101(a), Water Code, as amended by this
Act, any rule enacted before the effective date of this Act that is
void under Section 36.101(a), Water Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 6. (a) Except as provided by Section 5 and
Subsection (b) of this section, the changes in law made by this Act
apply only to a rule adopted by a groundwater conservation district
on or after the effective date of this Act or to a permit issued or
an application filed pursuant to a rule adopted on or after the
effective date of this Act.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply to:
(1) an application filed with the Hudspeth County
Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 that is pending on
the effective date of this Act; or
(2) a permit decision by the Hudspeth County
Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 that is not final on
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2423 was passed by the House on April
26, 2005, by a non-record vote; that the House refused to concur in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2423 on May 26, 2005, and requested
the appointment of a conference committee to consider the
differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the
conference committee report on H.B. No. 2423 on May 29, 2005, by a
non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2423 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 23, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
2423 on May 29, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor