Bill Text: TX SB1629 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the administration by the Texas Water Development Board of the Texas Water Bank and certain funds and accounts.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-25 - Filed [SB1629 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB1629-Introduced.html

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89R9865 KRM-F
By: Perry S.B. No. 1629

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration by the Texas Water Development Board
of the Texas Water Bank and certain funds and accounts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 15.153(b), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The fund may be used to:
(1) provide financial assistance to political
subdivisions to develop water supply projects that create new water
sources for the state, including:
(A) desalination projects, including marine and
brackish water desalination;
(B) produced water treatment projects, other
than projects that are only for purposes of oil and gas exploration;
(C) aquifer storage and recovery projects; [and]
(D) reservoir projects for which:
(i) a permit for the discharge of dredged or
fill material has been issued by the United States secretary of the
army under Section 404, Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33
U.S.C. Section 1344); and
(ii) a permit for the storage, taking, or
diversion of state water has been issued by the commission under
Section 11.121; and
(E) the development of infrastructure to
transport or integrate into a water supply system water that is made
available by a project described by this subdivision;
(2) make transfers from the fund:
(A) to the state water implementation fund for
Texas established under Subchapter G or the Texas Water Development
Fund II established under Subchapter L, Chapter 17; and
(B) for a purpose described by Subdivision (1);
[and]
(3) make transfers from the fund to the water bank
account established under Section 15.707; and
(4) make transfers from the fund:
(A) to the Texas Water Development Fund II state
participation account established under Section 17.957; and
(B) for a purpose described by Subdivision (1).
SECTION 2. Section 15.703(a), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The board may take all actions necessary to operate the
water bank and to facilitate the transfer of water rights from the
water bank for future beneficial use, including but not limited to:
(1) negotiating a sale price and terms acceptable to
the depositor and purchaser;
(2) maintaining a registry of water bank deposits and
those water users in need of additional supplies;
(3) informing water users in need of additional supply
of water rights available in the bank;
(4) encouraging water right holders to implement water
conservation practices and deposit the right to use the conserved
water into the bank;
(5) establishing requirements for deposit of a water
right into the water bank, including minimum terms for deposit;
(6) purchasing, holding, and transferring water or
water rights in its own name, including purchasing, holding, and
transferring water or water rights originating outside this state
for the purpose of providing water for the use or benefit of this
state;
(7) establishing regional water banks;
(8) acting as a clearinghouse for water marketing
information including water availability, pricing of water
transactions, environmental considerations, and potential buyers
and sellers of water rights;
(9) preparing and publishing a manual on structuring
water transactions;
(10) accepting and holding donations of water rights
to meet instream, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, or bay
and estuary inflow needs;
(11) entering into contracts with persons to pay for
feasibility studies or the preparation of plans and specifications
relating to water conservation efforts or to estimate the amount of
water that would be saved through conservation efforts; and
(12) other actions to facilitate water transactions.
SECTION 3. Section 16.131(a), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The board may use the state participation account of the
development fund to encourage optimum regional and interregional
development of projects, including the design, acquisition, lease,
construction, reconstruction, development, or enlargement in whole
or part of:
(1) reservoirs and storm water retention basins for
water supply, flood protection, and groundwater recharge;
(2) facilities for the transmission and treatment of
water;
(3) treatment works as defined by Section 17.001;
[and]
(4) interregional water supply projects selected
under Section 16.145; and
(5) projects described by Section 15.153(b)(1).
SECTION 4. The following provisions of the Water Code are
repealed:
(1) Section 16.131(c); and
(2) Section 16.146(h).
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.