Private Desalination Partners Pay At Least Half The Power Bill

The text as introduced · 254 words

89R3929 SCF-D

By: Hinojosa of Hidalgo
S.B. No. 448

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to certain cost sharing requirements for a desalination

facility operating under a public-private partnership.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 2267, Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 2267.067 to read as follows:

Sec. 2267.067. COST SHARING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN

QUALIFYING PROJECTS. (a) Subject to Subsection (b), a

comprehensive agreement or service contract for a qualifying

project authorizing the operation of a desalination facility,

including a brackish water desalination facility, shall require a

private entity to pay at least 50 percent of the energy costs to

operate the facility.

(b) This section applies only after a desalination facility

charges the first customer for water produced by the facility.

SECTION 2. Section 2267.067, Government Code, as added by

this Act, applies only to a comprehensive agreement or service

contract executed for a qualifying project authorizing the

operation of a desalination facility that begins charging customers

for water produced by the facility on or after the effective date of

this Act. A comprehensive agreement or service contract executed

for the operation of a desalination facility that began charging

customers for water produced by the facility before the effective

date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the

agreement or contract was entered into, and the former law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

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