AIPG-TX

Kirkle, et al., reported on August 31, 2023 that after a fast and furious 140 days, the 88th Texas Legislature adjourned sine die. Governor Abbott has already called the Legislature Back for two special sessions, with more expected over the interim. The Legislature headed into the 88th regular session with a nearly $33 billion surplus, making the budget the most significant topic on the legislative docket, followed by various social issues.

Issues that surrounded the budget included property tax reform and funding for retired teachers, state employees, higher education, parks, broadband, electric generation, and water. Legislators filed 8,345 bills and joint resolutions, about 14% more than in the 87th session. Only 1,256 of those bills passed both chambers by sine die, providing for a 15% per-cent bill passage rate and resulting in the 88th session having the highest number of bills filed and lowest passage rate in recent memory (Telicon 2023).

Governor Abbott vetoed 76 bills (nine of which TWCA tracked), second only to Rick Perry in 2001 (Legislative Reference Library 2023). In many cases, the Governor’s veto proclamation noted the importance of the vetoed bill and invited the Legislature to reconsider the bill after the passage of legislation addressing property tax or education reform.

On the waterfront, this session marked the formation of the first-ever House Water Caucus, chaired by Rep. Tracy O. King. The goals of the caucus include educating legislative members and staff on water issues, elevating water issues as a priority within the Legislature, and cultivating the next generation of water champions. Seventy-three of the 150 members of the Texas House joined the Water Caucus, demonstrating the importance of water issues across the state (Texas Water Foundation 2023).As in past sessions, TWCA closely followed bills that could impact its members, tracking 754 bills and designating 61 of those bills as a high priority. One hundred nineteen, or about 16% of our tracked bills, made it to the finish line, with 16 of those being a high priority. The most significant bills that may interest water professionals are summarized below.

After an interim filled with discussions about infrastructure woes, such as line breaks and boil water notices due to extreme weather events, the Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 28 and Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 75 (Perry/T. King) to create the Texas Water Fund. This umbrella fund allows the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to disburse money to other funds and programs it administers, such as the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas and the Rural Water Assistance Fund. The bill also creates the New Water Supply for Texas Fund and includes a goal for TWDB to fund 7 million acre-feet of new water supplies by 2033 through eligible projects such as desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, and use of produced water outside the oil and gas arena.

SB 28 requires a portion of the Texas Water Fund to be used for water infrastructure projects for rural political subdivisions and municipalities with a population under 150,000; projects for which all permitting is complete; a statewide water public awareness program; water conservation strategies; and water loss mitigation projects. The bill requires all recipients of financial assistance to submit a water conservation plan. TWDB must also establish a technical assistance program to assist retail public utilities with water loss audits and post certain water loss information on its website (SB 28 2023).

SJR 75, which amends the Texas Constitution to create the Texas Water Fund, must be approved by Texas voters this November before funding may be accessed. The resolution pro-vides that not less than 25% of the initial $1 billion appropriation to the Texas Water Fund be used for eligible projects in the New Water Supply for Texas Fund (SJR 75 2023). Beyond SB 28/SJR 75, the Legislature funded other water infrastructure priorities through the state budget and supple-mental appropriations bill (HB 1 and SB 30 – Bonnen/Huffman). Most significantly, this included $625 million to the Flood Infrastructure Fund, $550 million toward the coastal spine, and $125 million in match funds for the State Revolving Funds. SB 469 (Springer/T. King) also updated the definition of “rural political subdivision” to access TWDB programs (SB 469 2023).Advocacy for investment in water infrastructure also brought about unprecedented collaboration within and beyond the water community.

TWCA partnered with other key water associations to form a water infrastructure coalition to help advocate for water, wastewater, and flood infrastructure investment. Despite very different water needs and priorities, the coalition of 24 associations and 47 individual districts, organizations, and firms share a common goal of ensuring our water future. The water community is thankful for the leadership of our chairmen – Senator Charles Perry and Representative Tracy O. King – in passing and securing an appropriation for SB 28/SJR 75, and all realize the conversation around water infrastructure and funding needs is just beginning.