BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1883 |
By: Callegari |
Natural Resources |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Harris-Galveston Subsidence District was created several decades ago to control and prevent subsidence within the district by reducing groundwater withdrawals through a regulatory plan that requires converting water use from groundwater supplies to alternative water supplies. Interested parties contend that many laws governing the district are out of date with modern practices. The parties note that the legislature created several regional water authorities to aid in the water supply conversion process and assert that the district's statute should be updated to recognize these large aggregate permits, as well as to address certain administrative changes and other issues. C.S.H.B. 1883 seeks to address these issues.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1883 amends the Special District Local Laws Code to authorize the board of directors of the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District to contract with a person to act as an investment officer of the district and sets out provisions relating to investment officer training. The bill requires an investment officer for the district who holds that office on the bill's effective date to attend the specified training not later than the first anniversary of the bill's effective date, unless the officer has already taken the training in the 12 months preceding that effective date.
C.S.H.B. 1883 requires written notice of a board hearing other than a hearing on a permit application to be given to each regional water supplier in the district and specifies that a copy of the notice required to be posted in the place where notices are usually posted at the county courthouse of each county in the district be provided to each county clerk for such posting, and provides for the definition of "regional water supplier." The bill removes the deadline of not later than March 31 by which the board is required to hold its annual hearing to determine the effects of groundwater withdrawal during the preceding calendar year on subsidence in the district.
C.S.H.B. 1883 authorizes the board to issue permits to drill new wells and by rule provide exemptions from the permit requirements. The bill requires the district to grant a permit to drill and operate a new well inside a platted subdivision if water service from a local retail public utility is not available to the lot where the well is to be located.
C.S.H.B. 1883 removes the requirement for an operator of a well located in the district, as an alternative to the well owner, to obtain a permit from the board before drilling, equipping, or completing the well, substantially altering the size of the well or a well pump, or operating the well. The bill specifies that the board is required to issue a permit to an applicant if the board finds that, in part, there is no other adequate and available substitute or supplemental source of alternative water supplies, rather than surface water, at prices competitive with the prices charged by suppliers in the district. The bill, in a provision capping a district permit fee at 110 percent of the highest rate that the City of Houston charges for water supplied to its customers in the district, removes the specification that such water be surface water.
C.S.H.B. 1883 requires a well owner who is required to hold a permit to submit to the board a report stating the total and monthly amounts of groundwater withdrawn from the well during the preceding calendar year, rather than the preceding 12-month period. The bill requires a well owner whose well is aggregated with other wells permitted and managed by a regional water supplier to file the report with the regional water supplier instead of the district. The bill requires regional water suppliers to annually submit to the board the annual report for all wells owned, managed, or permitted by that supplier no later than March 31.
C.S.H.B. 1883 repeals Section 8801.163(a), Special District Local Laws Code, relating to the definition of "alternative water supply" applicable to provisions relating to the conversion to an alternative water supply.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1883 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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