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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to priority groundwater management areas. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 35.007, Water Code, is |
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amended to read as follows: |
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(a) The executive director and the executive administrator |
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shall meet periodically to identify, based on information gathered |
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by the commission and the Texas Water Development Board, those |
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areas of the state that are experiencing or that are expected to |
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experience, within the immediately following 50-year [25-year]
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period, critical groundwater problems, including shortages of |
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surface water or groundwater, land subsidence resulting from |
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groundwater withdrawal, and contamination of groundwater supplies. |
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Not later than September 1, 2005, the commission, with assistance |
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and cooperation from the Texas Water Development Board, shall |
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complete the initial designation of priority groundwater |
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management areas across all major and minor aquifers of the state |
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for all areas that meet the criteria for that designation. The |
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studies may be prioritized considering information from the |
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regional planning process, information from the Texas Water |
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Development Board groundwater management areas and from |
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groundwater conservation districts, and any other information |
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available. After the initial designation of priority groundwater |
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management areas, the commission and the Texas Water Development |
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Board shall annually review the need for additional designations as |
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provided by this subsection. |
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SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 35.007, Water Code, as |
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amended by this Act, applies only to a designation of a priority |
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groundwater management area made by the Texas Commission on |
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Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A |
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designation made before the effective date of this Act is governed |
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by the law in effect when the designation was made, and that law is |
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continued in effect for that purpose. |
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SECTION 3. 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. |
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