By: Averitt S.B. No. 2319

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the creation of a groundwater conservation district in a priority groundwater management area.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 35.012, Water Code, is amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d) through (f) to read as follows:

(b) Except as provided under Section 35.013, within [Within] two years, but no sooner than 120 days, from the date on which the commission issues an order under Section 35.008 designating a priority groundwater management area, for those areas that are not within a district, the commission shall[:

[(1)] create one or more new districts under Section 36.0151[;

[(2) recommend that the areas, or a portion of the areas, be added to an existing district under Section 35.013; or

[(3) take any combination of the actions under Subdivisions (1) and (2)].

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a district created under Section 36.0151 must be composed of territory within two or more contiguous counties, unless the commission determines that a district composed of territory within noncontiguous counties will result in more effective or efficient groundwater management than other legal options available to the commission.

(d) A district created under Section 36.0151 may be composed of territory that exists within the boundaries of a single county only if:

(1) the territory within the single county is the only area within the designated priority groundwater management area that is not within a district; or

(2) there are other areas within the designated priority groundwater management area, but:

(A) the other areas are not contiguous to the territory; and

(B) the commission determines that creating a single district composed of two or more of the noncontiguous areas, including the territory, would result in less effective or less efficient management of groundwater resources in the territory than creating a district composed of the territory within the single county.

(e) For purposes of this section, the commission may consider territory in two separately designated priority groundwater management areas to be within the same designated priority groundwater management area if:

(1) the priority groundwater management areas share a common boundary and one or more common aquifers; and

(2) the commission determines that a district composed of territory within the two areas will result in more effective or efficient groundwater management than other legal options available to the commission.

(f) Following the issuance of a commission order under Section 35.008, the Texas Agricultural Extension Service shall begin an educational program within such areas with the assistance and cooperation of the Texas Water Development Board, the commission, the Department of Agriculture, other state agencies, and existing districts to inform the residents of the status of the area's water resources and management options including possible formation of a district. The county commissioners court of each county in the priority groundwater management area shall form a steering committee to provide assistance to the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in accomplishing the goals of the education program within the area.

SECTION 2. Subsections (b), (c), (h), and (i), Section 35.013, Water Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) The commission shall submit a copy of the order to the board of the district to which it is recommending the priority groundwater management area be added. The board shall vote not later than the 120th day after receiving the copy of the order from the commission on the addition of the priority groundwater management area to the district and shall advise the commission of the outcome.

(c) If the board votes to accept the addition of the priority groundwater management area to the district, the board:

(1) may request the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the commission, and the Texas Water Development Board, with the cooperation and assistance of the Department of Agriculture and other state agencies, to administer an educational program to inform the residents of the status of the area's water resources and management options including possible annexation into a district;

(2) shall call an election to be held not later than the 270th day after the date of the board's vote under Subsection (b) within the priority groundwater management area, or portion of the priority groundwater management area, as delineated by the commission to determine whether [if] the priority groundwater management area will be added to the district; and

(3) shall designate election precincts and polling places for the elections in the order calling an election under this subsection.

(h) If the proposition is defeated, or if the board of the existing district votes not to accept the addition of the area to the district, then the commission shall, except as provided under Subsection (i), create under Section 36.0151 one or more districts covering the priority groundwater management area not later than the later of:

(1) the second anniversary of the date on which the commission issued its order under Section 35.008 designating a priority groundwater management area; or

(2) the 180th day after the date described under Subdivision (1) if the legislature is in session on the date described under Subdivision (1) and a bill has been filed and is pending before the legislature to create a district in all or part of the area or to add all or part of the area to an existing district [the first anniversary of the date on which the proposition is defeated or the board votes not to accept the area].

(i) In creating a district under Section 36.0151, the commission may modify the recommendation issued in its order for district creation under Section 35.008 to reflect the failure of an area to be added to an existing district or to account for the creation of any new districts or the addition of any other territory in the priority groundwater management area to an existing district during the intervening period, provided, however, that such modification does not affect the deadlines for district creation under Section 35.012 or this section. For an area that is not feasible for the creation of one or more districts as determined in the commission's findings under Section 35.008, the commission shall include in its report under Section 35.018 recommendations for the future management of the priority groundwater management area.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding Section 35.012, Water Code, as amended by this Act, and Section 36.0151, Water Code, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may not create a groundwater conservation district under Section 36.0151, Water Code, before September 1, 2011, in territory that exists within the boundaries of a single county in which total surface water use is more than 50 times the total groundwater production and that is located in a priority groundwater management area.

SECTION 4. 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, 2009.