81st Legislature Status

With two weeks left of the 81st Legislative Session, we need to do all that we can to promote the bills that managed to make it out of committee! Here's a list of bills that we're still watching:

SB 1414 Williams – Quarry Registration and Inspection
Requires registration of a quarry operation with the TCEQ prior to beginning extraction activities, and annual renewal of registration as extraction activities continue. TCEQ will annually conduct a physical survey of the state to identify all quarry operations in Texas and ensure that each operation is registered. Additionally, TCEQ will inspect each quarry operation for compliance with environmental laws and rules (specifically those pertaining to water and air quality) at least once every three years. TCEQ will establish inspection fees of no
more than $1,000 per year, and a penalty fee of no less than $5,000 and no more than $10,000 for failure of a quarry operation to register.
Status: Referred to Natural Resources; Passed as substituted 4/16/09, received by House from Senate 4/17/09, reported favorably without amendments 5/14/09

HB 3543 Lucio III – Watershed Protection
Creates Don’t Mess with Texas Water program to prevent illegal dumping that affects the surface waters of this state.
Status: Referred to Natural Resources; Passed as amended 5/05/09, received by Senate from House 5/05/09, referred to Natural Resources 5/06/09, reported favorable without amendment 5/12/09, placed on Local & Uncontested Calendar 5/12/09

HB 2919 King, S. – County Authority
Give counties limited power to regulate land use around military facilities.
Status: Referred to Defense & Veterans’ Affairs; Passed by House 5/14/09 and received by Senate 5/15/09, referred to Senate Veteran Affairs & Military Installments 5/18/09

HB 4299 Rose – Promotion of Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting system technology for non-potable indoor use and landscape watering will be incorporated into the design and construction of each new state building with a roof measuring at least 10,000 ft2 that is located in an area of Texas in which the average annual rainfall is at least 28 inches. Each municipality and county is encouraged to promote rainwater harvesting at residential, commercial, and industrial facilities through various incentives. The Texas Water Development Board will hold quarterly training seminars on rainwater harvesting for the members of the permitting staffs of municipalities and counties (mandatory attendance for certain cities and counties). HB 1818 also includes the tax exemption text from HB 225/1816. Status: Referred to Natural Resources; Committee Substitute for HB 4299 passed by House on 5/14/09 and received by Senate from House on 5/15/09, referred to Senate Natural Resources 5/18/09

SB 338 Van de Putte – Resource Conservation
Requires large grocery stores to offer affordable reusable bags for sale.
Status: Referred to Business & Commerce; Passed as substituted and received by House from Senate on 4/09/09; Referred to House Environmental Regulation 4/16/09

HB 179 Creighton; SB 275 Nichols – Commercial Injection Wells
Calls for suspension of the permitting process for any pending application of underground injection wells until any new rules are adopted.
Status: Both referred to Natural Resources Committee; HB 179 reported favorably as substituted and placed on General State Calendar 5/11/09; SB 275 reported favorably as substituted, passed by Senate on 4/30/09, received by House from Senate on 5/01/09, and reported favorably without amendments 5/14/09

SB 752 Davis, W. – Commercial Injection Wells
Prohibits the Railroad Commission from issuing a permit for an underground injection well if a local government has determined that an area is unsuitable due to its proximity to a water table, and notifies the TCEQ or RRC as applicable.
Status: Referred to Natural Resources Committee; Passed as substituted 4/21/09 and received by House from Senate 4/22/09, referred to House Natural Resources 4/28/09, reported favorably without amendment 5/5/09, House committee report sent to Local & Consent Calendar 5/08/09

HB 300 Isett – Sunset Review for TxDOT
GEAA supports HB 300 in essence. TxDOT has failed to develop a comprehensive approach to addressing the state’s transportation needs that goes beyond dependence on roads as main arteries; take into consideration and address the full environmental and other social impacts of its road projects; and provide for meaningful and effective public involvement in shaping the agency’s decisions. HB 300 as filed will not cure all of TxDOT’s ills, but it is an important start.
Status: Referred to Transportation; Passed with MANY amendments 5/11/09, received by Senate from House and referred to Transportation & Homeland Security 5/12/09, scheduled for Public Hearing on 5/18/09


Bills we do NOT support:

HB 1669 Callegari – Power to grant CCNs
If a municipality refuses to provide service to property located in the municipality’s ETJ, a retail public utility may apply to the commission for a CCN to serve the property. The commission can grant the certificate irrespective of whether the municipality consents to the certification.
Status: Referred to Natural Resources; Passed as substituted and amended 5/14/09, received by Senate from House 5/15/09, referred to Senate Natural Resources 5/18/09

HB 1741 King, T. – Artificial Recharge Compensation Guidelines
Relating to recharge of the Edwards Aquifer. Apolitical subdivision that causes artificial recharge of the aquifer is entitled to withdraw the measured amount of water it recharged, less an amount that accounts for recharge water discharged through springs and water that compensates the authority in lieu of users’ fees. The subdivision is also entitled to compensation by the authority for the cost of operating any facility that causes artificial recharge, regardless of its primary function. This bill, created to achieve a worthy goal: that of funding much needed repairs for the Medina Dam, would result in raising the pumping caps enforced by the Edwards Aquifer Authority by designating recharge credits for the water recharged at the Medina Dam site – not a good idea.
Status: Referred to Natural Resources; Passed as substituted 4/30/09, received by Senate from House 5/01/09, referred to Senate Natural Resources 5/06/09, Public Hearing on 5/12/09, now pending

Call for Action: U.S. Surface Transportation Act

In the next few weeks, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will consider reauthorizing the Surface Transportation Act. We need your help to tell Congress to use this opportunity to reduce stormwater runoff pollution from the nation's 985,139 miles of federal highway.

These roads and highways, built with federal taxpayer dollars, have an enormous negative impact on water quality throughout the nation. Stormwater runoff carried from these roads impairs nearby lakes, streams, and rivers by dumping high volume, high velocity flows into waterways, which erodes streambanks and fills them with deicing agents, toxic metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, and sediment.

Before Committee considers reauthorizing the Surface Transportation Act, it is important that Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) hear from Houes members that it is imperative to control stormwater discharges from our nation's roadways. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has sponsored a Dear Colleague letter requesting that the reauthorization bill include language to control stormwater pollution from federally subsidized roads. Please call your U.S. Representative today and ask him or her to sign Del. Norton's Dear Colleague letter in support of stormwater runoff mitigation on our nation's highways!

For more information about this important issue, please visit the American Rivers website.

S.B. 2222: Worthy of Our Support

Time is getting short to move important legislation onto the floor. Please take a minute to call or email your Representatives and Senators about S.B. 2222.

As you may know, intense development is increasingly impinging upon the critical military mission at Camp Bullis in northern Bexar County. As land surrounding Camp Bullis is developed, endangered Golden Cheeked Warblers are relocating to the base, thus limiting the land available to the military to conduct training. It goes without saying that the Army contributes immensely to the local ecnomony, but their presence has meant good stewardship of several thousand acres over the Edwards Aquifer as well.

In response to concerns about Camp Bullis, Senator Leticia Van de Putte has drafted S.B. 2222, which would create Regional Military Sustainability Commissions (RMSCs) and grant them the authority to regulate development in unincorporated territories located within five miles of the boundary lines of any military installation for which a Joint Use Study has been completed. (A draft JLUS for Camp Bullis is available online.) If passed, S.B. 2222 will help to ensure compatible development around a military installation. Developers and builders who oppose any sort of land use regulations are, of course, opposed to this bill.

As stewards of the Edwards Aquifer and the wildlife dependent upon it, we urge you to contact your Senators and members of the Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee and encourage them to support this bill. Those of you in Jeff Wentworth's district, we especially need you to contact him and ask for his support. Please help us move this legislation toward passage this session!

GEAA Supports County Authority!

The Texas Hill Country is one of the fastest growing regions of Texas. Ninety percent of the region is in unincorporated areas of the counties and is governed solely by county government. Unfortunately, counties have very limited ability to manage growth in unincorporated areas – the problem HB 3265 seeks to address. HB 3265 gives Hill Country counties new, limited authority to provide for orderly growth, protect property rights, protect natural resources, and keep up with the cost of transportation infrastructure needed to support new growth. This legislation seeks to do this by establishing density rules, setbacks between incompatible land uses, and infrastructure cost recovery fees.

Density Rules: Under HB 3265, counties will be able to establish density averages where water resources are limited and fragile. This would give developers flexibility to condense development or use large lots, depending on what is more feasible and/or appropriate for the land.

Setbacks between Incompatible Uses: In order to protect property values, HB 3265 allows counties to be able to provide some distance between existing neighborhoods or ranches and newly proposed industrial uses.

Infrastructure Cost Recovery Fees: As new development reaches further out into the Hill Country, counties struggle to upgrade state and county roads. HB 3265 gives counties power to collect reasonable fees from new development to help offset the costs of improving roads associated with development.

The bill specifies that before one or more of these new tools becomes available in any county, the county will need to develop a county plan and hold a public election for approval.

A group of county judges, commissioners, and county attorneys who have been working together for two years to build consensus in the Hill Country regarding county authority needs brought HB 3265 to the legislature. Representatives Patrick Rose, Doug Miller, and Pete Gallego are the bill’s co-authors. This bill has been assigned to the House Committee on County Affairs - if your Representative is a member, please ask him or her to support HB 3265!

We Need Your Support for Villarreal's Grandfathering Bill!

HB 2506, filed by Rep. Mike Villarreal, is scheduled for a public hearing on Monday, April 27th.

HB 2506 would limit the ability of a developer to seek exemptions from current city ordinances on the basis of dated plat or permit application. Currently, a developer may bring suit if a city denies the developerʹs petition to transfer the vested development rights of a dated plat or permit to a new permit for construction at the same location as the dated plat or permit. The bill would require that the developer bring suit in such a case within five years after submitting the original plat or permit application.

Current state law exempts development projects from city ordinances that were passed after a city received the first plats or permit applications. The grandfathered exemption may be continued regardless of how vague or old the original applications were, whether the property is sold or used for a different purpose, or how many years or decades pass before any construction begins. As a result, communities have often been unable to enforce local requirements regarding protection of the water supply, trees, or other local resources.

If you are a constituent of any of the members of the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, please contact your Representative and urge him or her to support this important bill!

Halleluja!

HB 3265, co-authored by Patrick Rose, Doug Miller and Pete Gallego, was approved by the County Affairs Committee yesterday and will now move onto the calendar of the full House of Representatives.

This bill, among the bills we love the most this session, will give limited authority by local option to 15 hill country counties if passed. Thanks to the many County Judges and County Commissioners who testified in behalf of this important bill. And an especially big thanks to Representatives Rose and Miller for thier stellar support and hard work in moving this forward.

To see an archived video of the full hearing, go to the County Affairs archive site and choose the broadcast listed on 4/6/09. We will keep you posted as the bill moves to the floor.

More Details on HB 595 Hearing

On March 17th, Annalisa Peace and Raymond Slade testified on behalf of GEAA at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing on HB 595 and HB 1508, which would prohibit discharge of sewage effluent and pollutants into waterways that recharge the Edwards.

The testimony by David Leibowitz and Valinda Bolton in support of the bills they filed - HB 595 and HB 1508 (respectively) - was educational and inspirational, as was all the testimony by the experts in support of this important legislation. Thanks so much to the City of Austin, Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, Raymond Slade on behalf of GEAA and HCA, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, Mayor Bob Lee of Castroville, and Randy Johnson of the San Geronimo Valley Alliance, for their support and compelling testimony. Thanks, too, to the Edwards Aquifer Authority for registering their support.

Also of interest are comments by a couple of our regional legislators who serve on that committee. A tip of the hat to Trey Martinez Fischer! If he represents you, thanks are in order.

If Doug Miller is your representative, take a good look at his participation during the hearing and contact him to urge his support of HB 595 and HB 1508.

Present but silent at the hearing was San Antonio Water Systems. We need your help in getting SAWS to actively support this legislation. Stay tuned for more on this.

Public Transit to Austin!

For those of you who'd like to use public transportation to travel to Austin, check out Texas State's Bobcat Tram system! Also called the BT Interurban Service, this route stops in Austin, Kyle, San Marcos, New Braunfels, and San Antonio. It is offered to Texas State students, faculty, and staff - and the general public, at an additional cost. The route runs on most weekdays, excluding school holidays.

Thanks to Daniel Day for letting us know about this service. To read a detailed account of his experiences with this bus route, visit the Echo Green blog.

A very curious proposal

Senate Bill 690, sponsored by Jeff Wentworth (R) of San Antonio, would nearly quintuple the number of signatures needed to trigger a referendum to amend the charters in the two largest Texas cities and at least double the needed signatures in the rest of the 346 home rule Texas cities.

This is an assault on the rights of 20 million Texans. Why would any legislator want to do this? On March 18, 2009, the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee heard testimony on SB 690. The hearing seems to have exposed arrangements involving multiple taps into the taxpayer purse by various real estate developers. The taxpayer dollars involved are unknown - it is probably billions. A problem for developers used to getting public subsidies is that the public is waking up. Citizens are starting to use their right to propose amendments to their local charters --- amendments to prohibit the diversion of taxpayer money to insider interests. SB 690 is a retaliatory strike crafted by politically connected real estate interests in the Austin and Dallas areas to raise the hurdle, already too high, for citizens to amend home-rule charters in Texas. The higher threshold makes it unlikely that citizens can ever place another charter amendment proposal on the ballot.

The current law was adopted in 1973 because the old threshold was too high. SB 690 takes Texas back to the old threshold of 10% of registered voters. Passage of SB 690 means insider developers can keep their gravy train going. The hearing raised another question: Did these interests in Austin and Dallas who seem to be pulling the strings behind SB 690 misinform Sen. Wentworth about how much charter amendment elections actually cost taxpayers? Testimony from activists who have used the law showed clearly that taxpayer costs to hold referendums hover around $0 because they can be held simultaneously with other elections.

Take action!
Call Senator Wentworth at 512-463-0125. Dallas Rep. Dan Branch (R), has sponsored a companion House Bill 3458. To reach Rep. Branch, call (512) 463-0367.

This Press Advisory was furnished by:
Mike Ford
www.InitiativeforTexas.org
1750 Timber Ridge Road #116 Austin, TX 78741
512-447-2086
mikeford@quik.com

Natural Resources Committee Hears GEAA's Top Bill

The House Natural Resources Committee met yesterday to hear comments about HB 595 and HB 1508, among others. Several GEAA members and supporters came to speak in support of these bills - thank you!

If you'd like to see a recording of yesterday's hearing, go to the Natural Resource Committee's archived broadcasts and click on the broadcast listed for 3/17/09, starting at 12:06 pm.

You'll need to download RealPlayer first to view this video... Go here to download and install this software for free!

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For a list of relevant bills considered at yesterday's meeting, read below:

HB 595: Leibowitz/Rodriguez - Relating to a restriction on permits authorizing discharges of sewage effluent into any water in the contributing or recharge zone of the San Antonioor Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer

HB 1508: Bolton - Relating to a restriction on permits authorizing direct discharges of waste or pollutants into water in certain areas associated with the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer.

HB 1662: King, Phil- Relating to the availability of certain Upper Trinity GWCD financial information on the district's internet website.

HB 1664: King, Phil - Relating to an exemption for groundwater used for certain purposes from production fees assessed by the Upper TrinityGWDC

HB 1318: Legler - Relating to the eligibility, service, and removal of persons appointed to the TCEQ

HB 1518: Corte - Relating to the additional f territory to and the amount of production fees imposed by the Trinity Glen Rose GWCD

HB 43: Corte - Relating to permitting requirements of groundwater conservation districts, including permits to transfer water

HB 1992: Martinez Fischer - Relating to the authorization of certain reuse water system contributions and discharges

Welcome To Our New Blog!

Citizens from throughout the Texas Hill Country are concerned about the impacts of high-density development on our water resources - both in terms of the quantity of water available and the quality of our groundwater. The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance (GEAA), working with our member and the region’s elected officials has crafted a legislative agenda that includes:

· Expand authority for Hill Country counties, including buffer zones between incompatible uses. GEAA supports HB 1119 by Valinda Bolton and HB 2167 by Patrick Rose, as advocated by the Hill Country County Commissioners group, that will give much needed authority to manage incompatible land uses by local option.

· Prohibit treated sewage effluent discharge into Edwards Aquifer waterways. HB 595 filed by State Representative David Leibowitz and its companion SB 822 filed by Leticia Van de Putte prohibit permits authorizing the discharge of sewage effluent directly into any water of the Contributing or Recharge Zones of the San Antonio or Barton Springs segments of the Edwards Aquifer. HB 1508 filed by Valinda Bolton and SB 1099 by Kirk Watson prohibit this practice in the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards.

· Grandfathering projects from regulation has severely inhibited municipal enforcement of water quality and other ordinances that promote environmental protection. HB 2506 filed by Mike Villarreal essentially limits vesting to five years, allowing adequate time to protect investment in a project while protecting the public from development that does not conform to ordinances within this reasonable time frame.

· Invest in clean water by using proceeds of the federal stimulus for green infrastructure and requiring the state to assess the penalties of water polluters that at a minimum recover the economic benefit of noncompliance. Make improvements to sewage treatment facilities and sewage mains a high priority for Federal stimulus funding.

· Reform the Texas Department of Transportation in the sunset review process to promote a comprehensive and environmentally sound state transportation policy. GEAA supports transportation systems that protect rural values and avoid habitat fragmentation.

· Provide Authority and Resources to Hill Country Groundwater Management Districts that will enable them to effectively manage scarce water resources.

· Give municipal and county governments the ability to assess Impact Fees on new development adequate to pay for the cost of new and additional infrastructure required by new growth. Get involved! Sign up on our web site to recieve action alerts. Keep us posted about your efforts to promote legislation during the session by using this blog. Working together, we can make the 81st Session of the Texas Legislature the best ever.