HB 1500 - Public Utility Commission (Holland) continues both the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and Office of Public Utility Counsel (OPUC) for six years, half of the usual 12-year period. A lot of the amendments to the law in this bill are specific to the electric industry. Some issues relevant to water utilities are: (1) requires each PUC regular commission meeting to include public testimony as an agenda item except for contested cases; (2) amends Texas Water Code Sec. 13.4132 to extend the length of an emergency temporary
manager appointment for an IOU from 180 days to 360 days with the option to renew for another 360 days and (3) requires regulation of
water and sewer services to be included in the PUC biennial report.

TRWA actively participated in the PUC sunset process. We met with the PUC Sunset Commission staff during the legislative interim to provide input on challenges our members are facing with the PUC. We also testified before the Sunset Advisory Commission, requesting
that customer complaints, uncontested matters, and settled matters be handled administratively and within a 6-month timeframe rather than through a drawn-out contested case hearing process. We submitted these recommended changes in writing. Our recommendations were not adopted; however, some of these ideas were passed in SB 893 discussed in the magazine article, which we also testified in favor of.

SB 1397 - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (Schwertner) continues the TCEQ for 12 years. This is a voluminous document that made a lot of changes to the law. A few relevant to water utilities are: (1) requires the TCEQ to provide notice to state representatives and senators that represent any portion of a water district’s boundaries when it receives an application for a permit that requires public notice, and requires the same when it receives an application to create a new district; (2) increases statutory limits on administrative penalties that may be imposed in enforcement actions concerning licensing and plumbing fixture issues, amongst others, from the current cap of $25,000 per day to $40,000 per day, and increases the penalty up to $400,000 per day when the violation involves an actual release of pollutants harmful to human health or an unauthorized taking of water that affects water supply, with certain added stipulations; (3) makes a number of changes to how TCEQ evaluates an entity’s compliance history for enforcement purposes and (4) directs TCEQ to publish a report on its website on the status of its water availability models.

HB 1565 – Texas Water Development Board (Canales) continues the TWDB and the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas
Advisory Committee for 12 years. Changes include: (1) requires TWDB to collect and analyze information about its financial assistance applicants and outreach efforts to better inform, and more effectively target, agency activities; (2) authorizes TWDB to adopt procedures
for different standards of review for sewage collection, treatment and disposal applications, design criteria, plans and specifications ; (3) requires regional water planning groups to include implementation updates about large projects in regional water plans and (4) authorizes regional water planning groups to use a drought worse than the drought of record as the baseline for planning purposes.

City/ Municipal
HB 2127 (Burrows) establishes that state law preempts any ordinance, or order, passed by a municipality or a county. Additionally, unless expressly authorized by statute, a municipality or county cannot adopt, enforce or maintain an ordinance, order or rule regulating conduct
covered by the following codes: (1) Agriculture Code; (2) Business & Commerce Code; (3) Finance Code; (4) Insurance Code; (5) Labor Code; (6) Local Government Code; (7) Natural Resources Code; (8) Occupations Code or (9) Property Code. The bill also provides legal remedies to a person who is damaged by a municipality or county seeking to regulate one of these areas and waives the city’s or county’s
governmental immunity.

SB 2440 (Perry) requires that a subdivision plat application to a county or a municipality have an attached statement, prepared by an engineer or geoscientist licensed to practice in this state, that certifies adequate groundwater is available for the subdivision. A municipal or county authority can waive this requirement if it is obvious there is sufficient groundwater, and the track will be supplied with groundwater from the Gulf Coast Aquifer or the CarrizoWilcox Aquifer; or the proposed subdivision has no more than 10 parts/plots. Effective January 1, 2024.

SB 543 (Blanco) allows a municipality to transfer real property, or an interest in real property, to a private entity if the recipient uses the property in a manner that primarily promotes the municipality’s public purpose relating to economic development. The recipient and municipality must enter into an economic development agreement authorized by Tex. Local Gov. Code Chapter 380, which grants the
municipality sufficient control to ensure that the public purpose is accomplished. A municipality may not transfer a public square, or park, that it has acquired through eminent domain or the threat of eminent domain. A municipality must post public notice of the agreement in a local newspaper prior to selling the property. Effective May 24, 2023.

Groundwater Conservation Districts
HB 1971 (Ashby) makes a slew of changes to the groundwater conservation district (GCD) permitting process including: 1) for boards of 10 or more directors, allows concurrence of the majority of the directors eligible to vote, to make the final decision on a permit or permit amendment application, as opposed to requiring a majority vote of the entire board membership; 2) prohibits a GCD director with a conflict of interest from attending a closed meeting, or voting on a conflicted matter, unless the majority of the board of directors are also
similarly conflicted; 3) Limits GCD meeting continuances so they do not exceed the deadline for a decision on a permit and 4) provides for the right to appeal a GCD board’s decision on a permit. Effective June 9, 2023.

HB 2443 (Harris) allows a person with groundwater ownership rights to petition their GCD to adopt or modify a GCD rule. Requires a GCD to act upon the petition within 90 days. HB 3059 (King) changes the limits on what a GCD can charge for an export fee, or surcharge, for water exported from the GCD. It also expands how a GCD may use the funds collected from a water export fee or surcharge.

Rural Broadband
HB 9/HJR 125 (Ashby) would create the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund to be administered jointly by PUC and the Texas Comptroller, with an appropriation of $5 billion, to finance projects for the development of broadband and telecommunications services.
Like the Texas Water Fund, the creation of this new fund will be determined by the Texas voters in November. Effective January 1, 2024, pending approval from voters.

SB 1238 (Nichols) amends the Government Code to clarify, and broaden, the definition of “underserved locations” to make it easier to obtain funding. It also amends the law to allow the Broadband Development Office to award grants, low-interest loans and other financial
incentives to applicants for eligible broadband infrastructure projects designed to provide service to unserved and underserved locations.
Effective June 2, 2023.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
HB 2460 (King) requires the TCEQ, not later than December 1, 2026, to obtain, or develop, updated water availability models for the Guadalupe, Lavaca, Nueces, San Antonio, San Jacinto and Trinity River basins. Texas Water Development Board HB 2759 (Thompson) requires the TWDB executive administrator (EA) to monitor hydrometeorological conditions in Texas and directs them to establish the TexMesonet Hydrometeorology Network (Network) to provide a statewide resource for hydrometeorological data and information benefiting weather forecasting, flood preparedness and drought monitoring. The EA may create a TexMesonet Advisory Committee to advise, and make recommendations, regarding data quality and how to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of hydrometeorological data.