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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to the ownership of and right to produce groundwater. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 36.002, Water Code, is amended to read as |
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follows: |
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Sec. 36.002. OWNERSHIP OF GROUNDWATER. (a) The ownership |
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and rights of the owners of the land and their lessees and assigns |
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in groundwater, including the ownership of groundwater in place and |
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the right to produce groundwater, are hereby recognized, and |
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nothing in this code shall be construed as depriving or divesting |
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the owners or their lessees and assigns of the ownership or rights[,
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except as those rights may be limited or altered by rules
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promulgated by a district]. |
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(b) The right of a landowner or the landowner's lessee or |
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assign to produce groundwater may be limited by a rule promulgated |
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by a district only if the rule is consistent with: |
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(1) Sections 3, 17, and 19, Article I, Texas |
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Constitution; and |
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(2) the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United |
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States Constitution. |
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(c) A rule promulgated by a district may not discriminate |
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between owners of land that is irrigated for production and owners |
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of land or their lessees and assigns whose land that was irrigated |
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for production is enrolled or participating in a federal |
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conservation program. |
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SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
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a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
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provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
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Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
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Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |