Texas Water: Past, Present, & Future January 10, By Lara Zent, TRWA Executive Director and General Counsel 1

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Texas Water: Past, Present, & Future January 10, By Lara Zent, TRWA Executive Director and General Counsel 1"

Suzan Potter
5 years ago
Views:

1 Texas Water: Past, Present, & Future January 10, 2019 By Lara Zent, TRWA Executive Director and General Counsel 1

2 TRWA s Legislative Policy Positions Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CNN) Decertification Amend Chapter 13 of the Water Code to create a fairer process for CCN decertification and compensation for CCN decertified areas. Groundwater Permitting Amend Chapter 36 of the Water Code to require groundwater conservation districts to consider land ownership of water utilities and their customers when issuing well permits to protect the future water needs of rural communities 2

3 TRWA s Legislative Policy Positions Obtain funding for Texas Water Development Board to contract to provide on-site assistance to rural utilities in the areas of finance, planning and technical assistance with the goal of helping them get funding from the Board. 3

4 Other Issues that TRWA Will Monitor/ Engage In CCN-related Water/ Wastewater Easements/ Eminent Domain Municipal Encroachment annexation, decertification, fire flow requirements, expansion of municipal authority Election Code Emergency Response Fiscal/ Government Oversight Open Government Employment Legislation pertaining to TCEQ, TWDB, and PUC 4

5 TRWA s Participation - Legislative Interim Chairman Lyle Larson facilitated stakeholder meetings on the following interim charges on June 27-28, The entire committee also convened on these issues in Brownsville on September 27: Interim Charge #3(b) and 3(d) Groundwater policy in Texas, including developments in case law regarding groundwater ownership and regulation and appropriate considerations of the service area of a water supplier when groundwater resources are allocated based on surface ownership. Issue analyzed on pages of the House Committee on Natural Resources Interim Report, summarizing the position of the various stakeholders including utilities, groundwater districts, and property owners. No specific recommendation on consideration of the service area of a water supplier in the groundwater permitting process. 5

6 House Natural Resources Committee Interim Charge 6: Evaluate the results of the expedited decertification process created under S.B. 573 (82R). Include an evaluation of the process for resolving disputes around this process and assessing compensation for utilities whose service areas are decertified. Issue analyzed on pages of the House Committee on Natural Resources Interim Report, summarizing the position of the various stakeholders including utilities, developers and cities. The recommendations on page 125 state any changes to the mechanism by which compensation is calculated should ensure that the process for being released from a CCN remains fair and expeditious. 6

7 Senate Committee on Agriculture & Rural Affairs TRWA Attended/ Monitored Interim Hearings June 4-5, 2018 Interim Charge #1 - Streamlining Water Permitting recommendations of the Committee s Interim Report are for the Legislature to continue to monitor the TCEQ s process to ensure it operates in the most efficient manner; that processing times are improved; and that there s transparency and accuracy. Interim Charge #2 - Regulatory Framework of Groundwater Conservation Districts and River Authorities Committee recommendation is that Texas landowners and producers would be better served to have a GCD regulatory process that was similar across neighboring GCDs. 7

8 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th Small percentage of total bills for 86 th Session have been filed. Committee appointments will likely trigger a lot more bill filing. Water Related HB 458 (Paul) - For nonsubmetered multi-family properties such as apartment complexes, requires landlords to provide notice to tenants when water service will be disconnected. Previously only applied to electric and gas utility service (Property Code). Also requires investor-owned utilities to notify municipalities of service disconnection to nonsubmetered multi-family properties (Water Code). HB 478 (Phelan) Refiled bill relating to the funding of flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects. Requires the TWDB to give greater importance to counties with a median household income below 85% of the state s median in awarding contracts to pay for flood control planning projects under Sec Water Code. 8

9 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th HB 481 (Kuempel) - Relating to the storage and recovery of water in a portion of the Edwards Aquifer. Amends the EAA s enabling legislation to allow certain political subdivisions to withdraw the amount of water injected or artificially recharged. HB 509 (Wilson) Adds Chapter 135 to the Natural Resources Code for Railroad Commission to regulate aggregate production operations as defined in 28A.001(1), Water Code (extraction of construction materials like crushed granite, crushed limestone, sand, gravel, etc.). Requires RRC to notify water districts and other political subdivisions of these permit applications. SB 257 (Rodriguez) Provides City of El Paso (bracketed) with the authority to establish a customer assistance program for ratepayers who face disconnection and cannot pay their bills. 9

10 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th Elections HB 358 (Lang) - Relating to holding elections on uniform election dates. Repeals provisions allowing political subdivisions to set their own election dates. Includes water districts under chapter 49; doesn t amend chapter 65 for SUDs, but requires bond elections for all entities to be held on uniform date. HB 365 (Cain) - Relating to holding elections on uniform election dates. Includes same provisions as HB 358 that would impact water district elections. 10

11 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th HB 430 (Shaheen) Requires local governments (includes districts) to include information about bonds in ballot language, including the entity s current debt and maximum estimated cost to repay the debt. HB 530 (Miller) - Relating to an application for a ballot to be voted by mail. Moves application deadlines and adjusts the dates on which a voter is eligible to vote by mail. 11

12 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th Employment HB 393 (Blanco) - Relating to certain unlawful employment practices regarding compensation. Restricts employers ability to ask about wage history or use wage history in hiring decisions. HB 495 (Deshotel) - May not include question about criminal history in initial employment application; only after determining applicant is otherwise qualified and invited for an interview or conditionally made a job offer; also cannot consider offense committed more than 7 years prior unless. Doesn t apply if criminal history is required by law. SJR 22 (Menendez) - Proposing a constitutional amendment establishing an increased minimum wage. Would raise minimum wage to $10.10 or the federal minimum, whichever is greater. 12

13 Bills of Interest Filed as of January 9 th Open Meetings SB 239 (Nelson) Adds districts as government bodies under the Act that are required to make video and audio recordings of their meetings and post them on the Internet. Includes WCID s, FWSD s and MUD s and WID s. Also amends Chapter 49, Water Code, so that if district meetings are held outside the district, they cannot be more than 10 miles away. Applies to districts with populations of 500 or more. Annexation HB 347 (King) - requires a municipality to give notice to MUDs, WCIDs, and SUDs when it intends to annex fewer than 100 separate tracts of land on which one or more residential dwellings are located on each tract. Eminent Domain bills/ issues will be covered in presentation tomorrow 13

14 Questions? 14

Groundwater Conservation Districts & Groundwater Management in Texas Who is TAGD?

Groundwater Conservation Districts & Groundwater Management in Texas Sarah Rountree Schlessinger June 12, 2018 Texas Groundwater GCD Powers & Responsibilities Groundwater Today Who is TAGD? 1 What does