By: Zwiener H.B. No. 2350
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to financial assistance provided to political
  subdivisions by the Texas Water Development Board for nature-based
  water quality enhancement projects.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 15.604(b), Water Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  The board shall adopt rules specifying the manner in
  which any additional state revolving fund hereafter established by
  the board, or any capitalization grant under the state water
  pollution control revolving fund, the safe drinking water revolving
  fund, or any additional state revolving fund, may be used to provide
  financial assistance to an eligible applicant for public works.
  Such rules shall require financial assistance to be provided for
  the purpose or purposes and on the terms authorized by the federal
  legislation or federal agency program under which the additional
  state revolving fund was established or the capitalization grant
  was awarded. To the extent not prohibited by board rule, any
  additional state revolving fund established under this subchapter
  may be used to provide financial assistance for projects described
  by Section 17.280.
         SECTION 2.  Section 17.001(10), Water Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
               (10)  "Water quality enhancement" means the
  construction of treatment works or projects described by Section
  17.280 by political subdivisions with loans provided by water
  quality enhancement funds.
         SECTION 3.  Section 17.271, Water Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 17.271.  PURPOSE. The purpose of this subchapter is to
  provide for making loans of water quality enhancement funds
  authorized by Article III, Sections 49-d-1, 49-d-2, 49-d-6, and
  49-d-7, of the Texas Constitution to political subdivisions of the
  state for water quality enhancement [the construction of treatment
  works].
         SECTION 4.  Section 17.272, Water Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 17.272.  FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. The board may use water
  quality enhancement funds to provide financial assistance to
  political subdivisions for purposes of water quality enhancement,
  including projects proposed under the water resource restoration
  program established under Section 17.280.
         SECTION 5.  Section 17.274, Water Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (b) to read as follows:
         (b)  An application for financial assistance administered
  through the water resource restoration program established under
  Section 17.280 must include a copy of a resolution approving the
  proposed project adopted by the governing body of a municipality or
  special purpose district or the commissioners court of a county in
  which the proposed project is to be located.
         SECTION 6.  Section 17.275, Water Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 17.275.  CONSIDERATIONS IN PASSING ON APPLICATION. In
  passing on an application from a political subdivision for
  financial assistance for water quality enhancement purposes, the
  board shall consider:
               (1)  the water quality needs of the waters into which
  effluent from the treatment works will be discharged, the benefit
  of the treatment works to such water quality needs, the
  relationship of the treatment works to the overall, statewide water
  quality needs; and the relationship of the treatment works to water
  quality planning for the state;
               (2)  the availability of revenue to the political
  subdivision, from all sources, for the ultimate repayment of the
  cost of the treatment works, including interest; [and]
               (3)  whether the political subdivision has been
  designated, pursuant to Section 26.082 of this code, to provide a
  regional system to serve all or part of the waste disposal needs of
  a defined area, the development of such systems being the declared
  policy of the legislature; and
               (4)  whether the political subdivision proposes a
  project through the water resource restoration program established
  under Section 17.280.
         SECTION 7.  Section 17.279, Water Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 17.279.  LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.  If there is
  insufficient money available to fund all applications under this
  subchapter, the board shall give preference to applications for
  political subdivisions that:
               (1)  the board finds cannot reasonably finance the
  treatment works without assistance from the state;
               (2)  propose a project through the water resource
  restoration program established under Section 17.280 that provides
  a significant improvement to water quality in the relevant
  watershed; or
               (3)  propose a project through the water resource
  restoration program established under Section 17.280 that affects a
  disadvantaged community, as determined by board rule.
         SECTION 8.  Subchapter F, Chapter 17, Water Code, is amended
  by adding Section 17.280 to read as follows:
         Sec. 17.280.  WATER RESOURCE RESTORATION PROGRAM.  (a)  In
  this section:
               (1)  "Program" means the water resource restoration
  program.
               (2)  "Project" means nature-based infrastructure that
  will improve water quality in the political subdivision where the
  project is located and includes the acquisition of real property
  and the use of nature-based water treatment technologies.
         (b)  The board shall establish and administer the water
  resource restoration program to assist in enhancing water quality
  in the state through the provision of financial assistance to
  political subdivisions for locally directed projects.
         (c)  The board will create an option to bundle a water
  resource restoration project with a state revolving fund project so
  the total cost of both projects to the applicant will be no more
  than the cost of the state revolving fund project alone.
         (d)  A proposed project must be compatible with the goals of
  the program and include the application of best management
  practices for the primary purpose of water quality protection and
  improvement. A proposed project may include:
               (1)  the preservation or restoration of regional scale
  natural landscape features, including forests, floodplains, and
  wetlands;
               (2)  practices that reduce impervious cover in a
  watershed;
               (3)  practices that increase water infiltration and
  retention, including the use of bioretention, trees, green roofs,
  permeable pavements, rain gardens, constructed wetlands, and
  cisterns;
               (4)  the implementation of green streets in public
  rights-of-way;
               (5)  the implementation of a comprehensive street tree
  or urban forestry program to manage stormwater and enhance tree
  health;
               (6)  the expanded use of tree box filters;
               (7)  stormwater collection and distribution systems,
  including cisterns, separate stormwater sewer systems, and
  downspout disconnection systems that use onsite stormwater
  management and remove stormwater from sewer systems;
               (8)  soil quality enhancement activities;
               (9)  the removal and replacement of turf with native
  grasses and vegetation that improve water infiltration;
               (10)  the establishment or restoration of permanent
  riparian buffers, floodplains, wetlands, and other natural
  features including vegetative buffers, grass swales, soft
  bioengineered stream banks, and stream daylighting;
               (11)  the management of wetlands to improve water
  quality and support water infiltration and retention; and
               (12)  sustainable landscaping to improve hydrologic
  processes.
         (e)  A proposed project may not include:
               (1)  passive recreation activities and trails
  including bike trails, playgrounds, athletic fields, picnic
  tables, and picnic grounds;
               (2)  non-permeable surface parking lots;
               (3)  stormwater ponds or dirt-lined detention basins
  that serve an extended or filtration function;
               (4)  in-line and end-of-pipe treatment systems that
  only filter or detain stormwater without the use of natural plants
  and trees;
               (5)  underground stormwater control and treatment
  devices, including hydrodynamic separators, baffle systems for
  grit, trash removal, and oil and grease separators;
               (6)  stormwater conveyance systems, including pipes
  and concrete channels, that are not soil or vegetation based;
               (7)  hardening, channelizing, dredging, or
  straightening streams or stream banks;
               (8)  street sweepers, sewer cleaners, and vacuum trucks
  unless they support nature-based infrastructure projects; and
               (9)  supplemental environmental projects required as a
  part of a consent decree.
         (f)  A project may not include the acquisition of property,
  an interest in property, or improvements to property through the
  use of eminent domain.
         (g)  The board shall adopt rules to establish a means of
  prioritizing projects in disadvantaged communities.  The board
  shall include the following criteria to determine whether a
  political subdivision seeking financing under this section is a
  disadvantaged community:
               (1)  median household income in the community as a
  percentage of statewide household income;
               (2)  annual water and sewer rates as a percentage of
  median household income in the community;
               (3)  families below the poverty level in the community
  as a percentage of the statewide number of families below the
  poverty level;
               (4)  per capita outstanding debt of the wastewater
  system serving the community as a percentage of median household
  income in the community; and
               (5)  cost-effectiveness calculated by determining
  construction costs of the proposed project per user.
         (h)  An application for the financing of a project under this
  section must include a viability assessment that includes:
               (1)  the ability of the applicant to provide proper
  oversight and management through a certified operator; and
               (2)  the financial ability of the users to support the
  long-term maintenance of the project.
         (i)  The board shall adopt rules necessary for the
  implementation and administration of this section.
         SECTION 9.  Not later than September 1, 2022, the Texas Water
  Development Board shall adopt rules necessary to implement Section
  17.280, Water Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 10.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.