79R7159 HLT-F
By: Puente H.B. No. 2423
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 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
enrolled or participating in a federal conservation program. Any
rule of a district that discriminates between land that is
irrigated for production and land enrolled or participating in a
federal conservation program is void.
SECTION 4. Section 36.113, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (h), (i), and (j) 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 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 enrolled
or participating in a federal conservation program the same as land
irrigated for production.
(j) On the application of an affected owner of land or the
owner's lessee or assigns, the district shall reconsider a decision
that is void under Subsection (i) and base its decision on the equal
treatment of land or wells on land enrolled or participating in a
federal conservation program and land that is irrigated for
production. Not later than the 90th day after the date the district
receives an application under this subsection, the district shall
render its decision and notify the applicant of its decision.
SECTION 5. Not later than the 90th day after the effective
date of this Act, a groundwater conservation district 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. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.