By: Gerdes (Senate Sponsor - Schwertner) H.B. No. 1523

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 14, 2025; May 15, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs; May 23, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 23, 2025, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1523 By: Hancock

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a temporary prohibition on the authorization by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of the use of a Class V injection well for certain aquifer storage and recovery projects.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 27, Water Code, is amended by adding Section 27.1535 to read as follows:

Sec. 27.1535. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON AUTHORIZATIONS OF USE OF CERTAIN CLASS V INJECTION WELLS. (a) This section applies only to a Class V injection well that is located in any portion of the territory of a groundwater conservation district that has adopted a resolution finding that Class V injection wells pose environmental risks to aquifers located in the territory of the district.

(b) The commission may not authorize the use of a Class V injection well for an aquifer storage and recovery project operated by a municipally owned utility that primarily provides water to a municipality that:

(1) has a population of 750,000 or more; and

(2) is located in a county adjacent to a county in which a groundwater conservation district described by Subsection (a) is wholly or partly located.

(c) This section expires December 31, 2027.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

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