Honorable Kenneth Armbrister, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1741 by Staples (Relating to an exemption for certain interbasin transfers of water from certain priority requirements.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would exempt from junior water rights provisions interbasin transfers that are based on a contractual sale of water that has a term of 50 years or less and that involves a transfer from an on-channel reservoir that is located in a river basin that the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has determined has a water supply equal to or greater than twice the amount necessary to meet the projected demand for surface water in the basin of origin for the next 50 years, and has sufficient storage capacity to yield the supply authorized by a water right during a drought-of-record event. There would be no significant cost to the TWDB to implement the provisions of the bill.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.