| TO: | Honorable David Dewhurst, Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB660 by Hinojosa (Relating to the review and functions of the Texas Water Development Board, including the functions of the board and related entities in connection with the process for establishing and appealing desired future conditions in a groundwater management area. ), Conference Committee Report |
This bill would require the Office of the Attorney General to, upon request of the Water Development Board (TWDB), take legal action to compel a recipient of TWDB’s financial assistance to cure or prevent default in payment. The bill would require TWDB and the Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to require the methodology and guidance for calculating water use and conservation developed under section 16.403 of the Water Code to be used in water conservation plans and reports to TWDB or TCEQ. The bill would abolish the Texas Geographic Information Council and clarify the Texas Natural Resources Information System’s responsibilities related to coordinating and advancing geographic information initiatives in the state. The bill would require TWDB, as part of the State Water Plan, to evaluate the state’s progress in meeting its future water needs and include an analysis of how many state water plan projects received its financial assistance.
The bill would require municipalities and water utilities with more than 3,300 connections to implement reporting measures established by TWDB and TCEQ. Municipalities and water utilities would be required to implement the reporting measures only at a level currently available to the entity. TWDB and TCEQ could not adopt a rule that would require an entity to report water use data that is more detailed than the entity’s billing system is capable of producing.
The bill would establish a process whereby non-self supporting general obligation water bonds could be removed from the Constitutional Debt Limit under certain circumstances.
The bill would require groundwater conservation districts to adopt relevant desired future conditions. The bill would require groundwater management areas to document consideration of factors or criteria to be considered in adopting desired future conditions and to submit that documentation in an explanatory report to TWDB.
Based on the analysis of TWDB, TCEQ, and the Sunset Advisory Commission, it is assumed that any costs associated with the bill could be absorbed within current resources.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2011.
| Source Agencies: | 116 Sunset Advisory Commission, 580 Water Development Board, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, SZ, ZS, AH, KM, KKR
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