By: Fraser, Duncan	S.B. No. 332

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the vested ownership interest in groundwater beneath
	the surface of land, the right to produce that groundwater, and the
	management of groundwater in this state.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 36.001, Water Code, is amended by adding
	Subdivision (6-a) to read as follows:
	(6-a)  "Landowner" means:
	(A)  an owner of a possessory interest in the
	surface estate of real property;
	(B)  any lessee or other person to whom a person
	described by Paragraph (A) has leased, granted, or conveyed either
	an ownership interest in or a groundwater production right to the
	groundwater below the surface of the real property, but only to the
	extent of the lease, grant, or conveyance; or
	(C)  a successor in interest to a person described
	by Paragraph (A) or (B).
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended
	by adding Section 36.0011 to read as follows:
	Sec. 36.0011.  FINDINGS. The legislature finds that the
	conservation, preservation, use, and development of groundwater
	resources in this state are compelling public interests vital to
	public safety, welfare, and economic progress. In this chapter,
	the legislature has recognized that the implementation of long-term
	aquifer management strategies developed by local groundwater
	conservation districts and subsidence districts to address the
	diverse characteristics that distinguish the many groundwater
	aquifers in this state is essential to implement Section 59,
	Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and to protect the landowner's
	ownership interest in the groundwater below the surface.
	SECTION 3.  Section 36.002, Water Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 36.002.  OWNERSHIP OF GROUNDWATER. (a)  The
	legislature recognizes that a landowner has a vested ownership
	interest in groundwater below the surface as an interest in the
	landowner's real property.
	(b)  The vested ownership interest described by this
	section:
	(1)  entitles the landowner to a fair chance to produce
	the groundwater below the surface of real property, subject to
	Subsection (d), without causing waste or malicious drainage of
	other properties or negligently causing subsidence, but does not
	entitle a landowner to the right to capture a specific amount of
	groundwater below the surface; and
	(2)  does not affect the existence of common law
	defenses or other defenses to liability under the rule of capture.
	(c)  Nothing [The ownership and rights of the owners of the
	land and their lessees and assigns in groundwater are hereby
	recognized, and nothing] in this code shall be construed as
	depriving or divesting a landowner [the owners or their lessees and
	assigns] of the ownership interest [or rights, except as those
	rights may be limited or altered by rules promulgated by a
	district].
	(d)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to:
	(1)  prohibit a district from promulgating a rule to
	limit the exercise of the right of the landowner to produce
	groundwater;
	(2)  prohibit a district from limiting or prohibiting
	the drilling of a well by a landowner for failure or inability to
	comply with minimum well spacing or tract size requirements adopted
	by the district;
	(3)  affect the ability of a district to regulate
	groundwater production as authorized under Section 36.113, 36.116,
	or 36.122 or otherwise under this chapter or a special law governing
	a district; or
	(4)  require that rules or regulations adopted by a
	district must allocate to each landowner a proportionate share of
	available groundwater for production from the aquifer based on the
	number of acres owned by the landowner.
	(e)  A rule promulgated by a district may not discriminate
	between owners of land that is irrigated for production and
	landowners [owners of land or their lessees and assigns] whose land
	that was irrigated for production is enrolled or participating in a
	federal conservation program.
	SECTION 4.  Section 36.101, Water Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
	follows:
	(a)  A district may make and enforce rules, including rules
	limiting groundwater production based on tract size or the spacing
	of wells, to provide for conserving, preserving, protecting, and
	recharging of the groundwater or of a groundwater reservoir or its
	subdivisions in order to control subsidence, prevent degradation of
	water quality, or prevent waste of groundwater and to carry out the
	powers and duties provided by this chapter.  In adopting a rule
	under this chapter, a district [During the rulemaking process the
	board] shall:
	(1)  consider all groundwater uses and needs;
	(2)  [and shall] develop rules that [which] are fair
	and impartial;
	(3)  consider the vested ownership interest described
	by Section 36.002;
	(4)  consider the public interest in conservation,
	preservation, protection, recharging, and prevention of waste of
	groundwater, and of groundwater reservoirs or their subdivisions,
	and in controlling subsidence caused by withdrawal of water from
	those groundwater reservoirs or their subdivisions, consistent
	with the objectives of Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution;
	(5)  consider the goals developed as part of the
	district's comprehensive management plan under Section 36.1071;
	and
	(6)  [and that do] not discriminate between land that
	is irrigated for production and land that was irrigated for
	production and enrolled or participating in a federal conservation
	program.
	(a-1)  Any rule of a district that discriminates between land
	that is irrigated for production and land that was irrigated for
	production and enrolled or participating in a federal conservation
	program is void.
	SECTION 5.  Subsection (c), Section 36.108, Water Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(c)  The presiding officer, or the presiding officer's
	designee, of each district located in whole or in part in the
	management area shall meet at least annually to conduct joint
	planning with the other districts in the management area and to
	review the management plans and accomplishments for the management
	area. In reviewing the management plans, the districts shall
	consider:
	(1)  the goals of each management plan and its impact on
	planning throughout the management area;
	(2)  the effectiveness of the measures established by
	each management plan for conserving and protecting groundwater,
	[and] preventing waste, and considering the vested ownership
	interest described by Section 36.002, and the effectiveness of
	these measures in the management area generally;
	(3)  any other matters that the boards consider
	relevant to the protection and conservation of groundwater and the
	prevention of waste in the management area; and
	(4)  the degree to which each management plan achieves
	the desired future conditions established during the joint planning
	process.
	SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.