| TO: | Honorable Allan Ritter, Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources |
| 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.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted |
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), in consultation with the Water Conservation Advisory Council, to develop a uniform system for reporting municipal water use and require entities to use this methodology when submitting 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 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 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. The bill would require groundwater conservation districts to adopt relevant desired future conditions. The bill would modify TCEQ's petition process to define affected persons, clarify timelines, and ensure the reasons for filing a petition correspond with the bases for TCEQ to take action to ensure consistency.
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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