Bill Text: TX SB2291 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the plugging of abandoned or deteriorated water wells; authorizing a fee.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-22 - Referred to Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs [SB2291 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB2291-Introduced.html

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88R14580 KBB-F
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 2291

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the plugging of abandoned or deteriorated water wells;
authorizing a fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1901.053(a), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 1901.258, the [The]
department shall deposit money collected under this chapter to the
credit of the water well drillers account in the general revenue
fund. Money deposited in that account under this section may be
used only to administer this chapter.
SECTION 2. Section 1901.101(b), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) One member appointed under Subsection (a)(1) must be
selected from the state at large and the remaining five driller
members must be selected from each of the following geographic
areas of the state, as defined by department rule:
(1) Gulf Coast area;
(2) Trans-Pecos area;
(3) Central Texas area;
(4) Northeast Texas area; and
(5) Panhandle-South Plains area.
SECTION 3. Subchapter F, Chapter 1901, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 1901.258 to read as follows:
Sec. 1901.258. WATER WELL PLUGGING ACCOUNT. (a) The
department may assess a fee for each well drilled in an amount
determined by department rule for the purpose of plugging abandoned
or deteriorated wells.
(b) The department shall deposit a fee assessed under this
section to the credit of the water well plugging account. The water
well plugging account is an account in the general revenue fund that
may be appropriated to the department only for the purpose of
plugging abandoned or deteriorated wells. The account is exempt
from the application of Section 403.095, Government Code.
(c) The account consists of five subaccounts corresponding
to the geographic areas described in Section 1901.101(b). The fee
for each well drilled in a geographic area shall be deposited to the
credit of the subaccount established for that geographic area.
Fees in a subaccount may be used only to pay:
(1) the administrative costs of the department;
(2) the costs of plugging high priority or hazardous
wells, as defined by department rule, located anywhere in the
state; and
(3) the costs of plugging wells, other than high
priority or hazardous wells, located in the geographic service area
for which the subaccount was established.
(d) The department may allocate not more than:
(1) 20 percent of the money in the account to pay the
administrative costs of the department; and
(2) 10 percent of the money in the account to pay the
costs of plugging high priority or hazardous wells.
(e) The department may use money in the account to plug an
abandoned or deteriorated well only if the department determines
that the landowner or other person possessing the well:
(1) cannot be located; or
(2) does not have sufficient assets to plug the well as
determined by criteria established by department rule.
(f) The department may transfer money in a subaccount to a
groundwater conservation district to be used by the district to
plug one or more abandoned or deteriorated wells designated by the
department if the department is entitled to use money in that
subaccount to plug those wells. From the money transferred, the
district may allocate not more than $50 for each well to pay the
district's administrative costs.
SECTION 4. The fee authorized by Section 1901.258,
Occupations Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a water well
for which initial drilling operations begin on or after the
effective date of the rules adopted by the Texas Department of
Licensing and Regulation providing for the assessment of the fee.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.