small flood dams skip the state water permit

The text as introduced · 458 words

90R1093 CMO-F

By: Zaffirini
S.B. No. 58

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an exemption from the requirement to obtain a permit

from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for certain dams

or reservoirs operated and maintained for the purposes of erosion,

floodwater, and sediment control.

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

SECTION 1. Section 11.121, Water Code, is amended to read as

follows:

Sec. 11.121. PERMIT REQUIRED. Except as provided in

Sections 11.1405, 11.142, 11.1421, 11.1422, 11.1423, and 18.003, no

person may appropriate any state water or begin construction of any

work designed for the storage, taking, or diversion of water

without first obtaining a permit from the commission to make the

appropriation.

SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 11, Water Code, is amended

by adding Section 11.1423 to read as follows:

Sec. 11.1423. PERMIT EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN DAMS OR

RESERVOIRS FOR EROSION, FLOODWATER, AND SEDIMENT CONTROL. (a) In

this section, "qualified local sponsor" means a district or

authority created under Section 52(b)(1) or (2), Article III, or

Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that has entered into

an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture's

Natural Resources Conservation Service pursuant to the Watershed

Protection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. Section 1001 et

seq.) to serve as a local sponsor to operate and maintain a dam or

reservoir for purposes of erosion, floodwater, and sediment

control.

(b) Without obtaining a permit, a qualified local sponsor

may:

(1) construct or maintain on property owned or

controlled by the qualified local sponsor a dam or reservoir with

normal storage of not more than 200 acre-feet of water for the

purposes of erosion, floodwater, and sediment control; and

(2) divert water from the dam or reservoir as needed in

order to repair, maintain, or rehabilitate the impoundment and

associated works of improvement so as to maintain the operational

integrity and purpose of the dam or reservoir.

(c) The termination of an agreement between a qualified

local sponsor and the United States Department of Agriculture's

Natural Resources Conservation Service does not affect the

exemption described by Subsection (b), provided that the dam or

reservoir continues to be owned or controlled by the qualified

local sponsor for the purposes of erosion, floodwater, and sediment

control.

SECTION 3. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

shall adopt rules to implement Section 11.1423, Water Code, as

added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2028.

SECTION 4. 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, 2027.