Gerdes Bill’s Foreign Water Permit Ban Needs A Risk Finding

The text as introduced · 643 words

89R8779 SCR-F

By: Gerdes
H.B. No. 2034

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the issuance of groundwater permits to certain aliens

or foreign entities.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended

by adding Section 36.1141 to read as follows:

Sec. 36.1141. PERMITS ISSUED TO CERTAIN FOREIGN INDIVIDUALS

OR ENTITIES. (a) In this section:

(1) "Designated country" means a country identified by

the United States Director of National Intelligence as a country

that poses a risk to the national security of the United States in

each of the three most recent Annual Threat Assessments of the U.S.

Intelligence Community issued pursuant to Section 108B, National

Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. Section 3043b).

(2) "Governing authority," "governing person," and

"organization" have the meanings assigned by Section 1.002,

Business Organizations Code.

(3) "Risk to the health, safety, and welfare of the

public" includes a likelihood that an individual, organization, or

governmental entity will engage in an act that:

(A) constitutes:

(i) a violation of state or federal

criminal law;

(ii) corporate espionage; or

(iii) a public nuisance; or

(B) causes or threatens to cause bodily injury to

a person, including the introduction of a dangerous disease or

dangerous substance into an area.

(b) For purposes of this section, an organization is under

the control of an individual or another organization if the

controlling individual or organization is authorized to:

(1) direct the activities of the controlled

organization;

(2) make or direct others to make legal commitments on

behalf of the controlled organization; or

(3) hire and fire a principal decision maker of the

controlled organization.

(c) The authority of the controlling individual or

organization under Subsection (b) may derive from:

(1) exercise of a voting ownership interest of the

controlled organization sufficient to elect a governing person or

governing authority of the controlled organization to exercise on

the controlling individual's or organization's behalf the authority

described by Subsection (b); or

(2) a financial, legal, practical, contractual, or

other arrangement that functionally enables the controlling

individual or organization to exercise the authority described by

Subsection (b).

(d) This section does not apply to a permit or permit

amendment issued to:

(1) an individual who is a citizen or lawful permanent

resident of the United States, including an individual who is a

citizen of a foreign country; or

(2) an organization that is owned by or under the

control of one or more individuals described by Subdivision (1).

(e) Except as provided by Subsection (d) and

notwithstanding any other law, a district may not issue a permit or

a permit amendment to or renew a permit for the following if the

issuance or renewal of the permit or amendment would create a risk

to the health, safety, and welfare of the public:

(1) a governmental entity of a designated country;

(2) an organization that is:

(A) headquartered in a designated country;

(B) directly or indirectly under the control of

the government of a designated country; or

(C) owned by or under the control of one or more

individuals who are domiciled in a designated country;

(3) an organization that is owned by or under the

control of an organization described by Subdivision (2); or

(4) an individual who is domiciled in a designated

country.

SECTION 2. Section 36.1141, Water Code, as added by this

Act, applies only to a permit issued, amended, or renewed by a

groundwater conservation district on or after the effective date of

this Act. A permit issued, amended, or renewed by a groundwater

conservation district before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date

of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.