HBA-EDN H.B. 3145 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3145 By: Hartnett Natural Resources 3/26/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a groundwater right holder has a statutory right to reuse that water after it has been discharged. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission is allowed to issue bed and banks permits for the downstream reuse of discharges based on surface water. However, surface water that is used and then discharged back into the stream is once again designated as state water and is available for appropriation or use by others unless there is a specific provision in the permit that provides otherwise. Common law applies this same principle to developed water, which can be either groundwater or surface water brought in from outside a basin. House Bill 3145 preserves the right of entities with developed water rights whose water is treated by the Trinity River Authority to reuse water after it has been discharged. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 3145 amends the Local Government Code to except sewage derived from water that originates from outside of the Trinity River Basin from the provision that the Trinity River Authority becomes the owner of sewage accepted by it for transportation and treatment and is solely responsible for the proper treatment and disposal of the sewage and the effluent. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.