By: Perry S.B. No. 2026
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to regulation of the production of retail public utility
  wells by a groundwater conservation district.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 36.002(d), Water Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  This section does not:
               (1)  prohibit a district from limiting or prohibiting
  the drilling of a well by a landowner for failure or inability to
  comply with minimum well spacing or tract size requirements adopted
  by the district;
               (2)  affect the ability of a district to regulate
  groundwater production as authorized under Section 36.113, 36.116,
  36.1161, or 36.122 or otherwise under this chapter or a special law
  governing a district; or
               (3)  require that a rule adopted by a district allocate
  to each landowner a proportionate share of available groundwater
  for production from the aquifer based on the number of acres owned
  by the landowner.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended
  by adding Section 36.1161 to read as follows:
         Sec. 36.1161.  REGULATION OF PRODUCTION BY RETAIL PUBLIC
  UTILITIES. (a)  In this section, "retail public utility" has the
  meaning assigned by Section 13.002.
         (b)  This section applies only to a district that regulates
  production under Section 36.116 based on tract size or acreage.
         (c)  A retail public utility may petition a district to
  authorize the retail public utility to produce groundwater based
  on:
               (1)  the aggregate acreage owned or leased by the
  retail public utility; and 
               (2)  the acreage of the landowners served by the retail
  public utility as provided by Subsection (d).
         (d)  A district may only base a retail public utility's
  authorized production amount under this section in a manner
  consistent with district rules and based on acreage of landowners
  served by the retail public utility if:
               (1)  the utility has acquired from the landowner a real
  property interest in the groundwater beneath the land; or
               (2)  the landowner has provided written permission for
  the retail public utility to exercise the landowner's real property
  interest in the groundwater beneath the landowner's land until the
  landowner:
                     (A)  drills a well and produces water from the
  land; or
                     (B)  transfers title to the land or real property
  interest in the groundwater to another person.
         (e)  The district shall hold a public hearing to consider
  approval of a petition submitted under this section. The district
  shall require the retail public utility submitting the petition to
  provide written notice of the hearing not later than the 60th day
  before the date of the hearing to:
               (1)  the landowners served by the retail public
  utility;
               (2)  persons with permitted or registered wells in the
  district; and
               (3)  persons not described by Subdivision (1) or (2)
  who have a property interest in groundwater under land that is
  within one mile of the utility's wells in the district.
         (f)  The district shall consider a petition at a hearing
  under this section in the same manner as a rulemaking hearing under
  Section 36.101.
         SECTION 3.  Section 36.414(a), Water Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), a district shall
  process applications from a single applicant under consolidated
  notice and hearing procedures on written request by the applicant
  if the district requires a separate permit or permit amendment
  application for:
               (1)  drilling, equipping, operating, or completing a
  well or substantially altering the size of a well or well pump under
  Section 36.113;
               (2)  the spacing of water wells or the production of
  groundwater under Section 36.116 or 36.1161; or
               (3)  transferring groundwater out of a district under
  Section 36.122.
         SECTION 4.  Section 36.116(c), Water Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.