Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs
Charge: Regulatory framework of groundwater conservation districts and river authorities
- Staff Report: Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, Red River Authority of Texas, Nueces River Authority, Sunset Advisory Commission, April 2018
- Priority Groundwater Management Areas and Groundwater Conservation Districts: Report to the 85th Texas Legislature, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas Water Development Board, January 2017
- "'Of Urgent Concern': What Prompted House Bill 162, the Groundwater Conservation Act of 1949," Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, Volume LXXXVIII, 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Ownership, production and transfer of surface water and groundwater), Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs, November 2016
- "Water Planning and Groundwater Management" (Includes map of Groundwater Conservation Districts of Texas), Tierra Grande, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, February 11, 2016
- Reorganizing Groundwater Regulation in Texas, Bush School of Government & Public Service, Texas A&M University, 2016
- River Authorities and Special Law Districts of Texas (Map), Texas Water Development Board, January 2014
- Interim Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Groundwater management and groundwater conservation districts), House Committee on Natural Resources, December 2010
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature: Texas River Authorities, Senate Committee on Natural Resources, March 2009
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature: Implementation of House Bill 1763 and Groundwater Management in Texas, Senate Committee on Natural Resources, February 2009
- Interim Report to the 77th Legislature: Missions and Roles of Texas River Authorities, Senate Interim Committee on Natural Resources, November 2000
- Texas River Authority Website Links, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- Groundwater Conservation Districts (District information, facts, map, groundwater data and models), Texas Water Development Board
Charge: Agricultural fees
- "Commissioner Sid Miller Calls for Agency Fee Reductions (Press Release)," Texas Department of Agriculture, August 22, 2017
- An Audit Report on Fees at the Department of Agriculture, Texas State Auditor's Office, August 2017
- Texas Department of Agriculture Fee Updates (Includes cost recovery rate overview and notice of proposed rule changes as published in 40 TexReg 6989), Texas Department of Agriculture, October 13, 2015
- Occupational Regulation in Texas: Occupational Licenses and Statutory Penalties for Violations Relating to Occupational Licenses (Texas Department of Agriculture), Texas Legislative Council, October 2008
- Licenses & Registrations, Texas Department of Agriculture
House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism (Brownsville)
Charge 1 (Partial): Economic, recreational, and biological impacts and needed repairs from Hurricane Harvey and the following areas and industries:
e. Travel and tourism
- Hurricane Harvey's Fiscal Impact on State Agencies (Presented to House Appropriations Committee), Legislative Budget Board, May 2018
- "Harvey's Historic Wrath: Hurricane Damages THC's Fulton Mansion, Impacts Other Historic Sites," The Medallion, Texas Historical Commission, Fall 2017
- "Hurricane Harvey Tourism Recovery Fund Launched to Help Devastated Texas Gulf Coast Communities (Press Release)," Texas Travel Industry Association, September 7, 2017
f. Recommendations for timely recovery from Harvey, and mitigation of future natural disasters
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Prevention and mitigation of natural disasters), House Committee on County Affairs, January 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Repair of state parks damaged by natural disasters), House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism, January 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Natural disaster preparedness), House Committee on State Affairs, January 2017
Charge 4: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature:
- Texas Historical Commission Programs
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Border Operations
House Committee on Natural Resources (Palo Duro Canyon State Park)
Charge 3: Groundwater policy in Texas, including the following issues:
a. Progress and challenges in encouraging coordination and consistency in aquifer-wide management and permitting practices;
- 2017 State Water Plan (Amendments and documents, Chapter 6 – Water supplies), Texas Water Development Board, 2017
- Texas Aquifers, Texas Water Development Board
b. Developments in case law regarding groundwater ownership and regulation;
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Ownership, production and transfer of surface water and groundwater), Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs, November 2016
- "Mixing Oil and Water Law," Tierra Grande, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, September 21, 2016
- "Texas Groundwater Rights and Immunities: From East to Day and Beyond," Texas Water Journal, Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A&M University, 2014
c. Potential improvements to the existing groundwater permitting process, including those contemplated in HB 31, 85th Legislature, R.S.;
- Groundwater and Wells, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
d. The appropriate consideration of the service area of a water supplier when groundwater resources are allocated based on surface ownership;
- Texas Water Code § 36.002, Ownership of Groundwater
e. The designation of brackish groundwater production zones and related research;
- Brackish Groundwater Production Zones, Texas Water Development Board
f. Groundwater data and science needs
- Groundwater Data, Texas Water Development Board
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs
Charge: Streamlining water permitting
- Interim Report to 85th Legislature (Charge 1 – Surface water & groundwater), Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs, November 2016
- Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Groundwater – Planning and Permitting Process), House Committee on Natural Resources, January 2015
- Water Rights: Permits, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Charge: Monitoring, including, but not limited to:
- SB 1511 (prioritization in the regional water plan);
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Regional Water Planning Groups Overview), House Committee on Natural Resources, December 2016
- Regional Water Planning, Texas Water Development Board
- SB 1538 (Floodplain Management Account uses);
- Texas Water Code § 16.3161, Floodplain Management Account
- SB 864 (GCD application of state water);
- HB 2004 (Texas economic development fund for TDA); and
- HB 3433 (Adoption of rules affecting rural communities. Make recommendations for any legislative improvements needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation including regional water planning, flood planning, and groundwater production.)
House Committee on County Affairs (Corpus Christi)
Charge 1: Emergency response activities and the relationship between state, counties, non-governmental organizations, and churches in preparing for and responding to Hurricane Harvey
- Preparedness, Response, and Rebuilding: Lessons from the 2017 Disasters (Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security), Reed Clay, Chief Operating Officer for Texas Governor Greg Abbott, March 15, 2018
- Vulnerable Communities are Using Innovative Financing to Prepare for Natural Disasters: Spending on Mitigation Now Will Save Lives and Taxpayer Dollars, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Updated March 23, 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Prevention and mitigation of natural disasters), House Committee on County Affairs, January 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Natural disaster preparedness), House Committee on State Affairs, January 2017
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – Disaster preparedness planning), House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, December 2016
- Interim Report to the 85th Texas Legislature (Charge 1 – State preparedness and response to natural disasters), House Committee on Land & Resource Management, December 2016
- Interim Report to the 85th Legislature (Charge 3 – Disaster preparedness planning and coordination, background on process to rebuild housing and efficiency of disaster recovery), Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, November 2016
- Floodplain Management & Watershed Protection Order, Commissioners' Court of Aransas County, Texas, February 17, 2016
- Hurricane Harvey Response (Various rules, notices, and reports concerning storm damage), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- Texas Government Code §§ 418.101-418.1102, Local and Interjurisdictional Emergency Management
Charge 2: Evaluate whether counties have the necessary ordinance-making and enforcement authority to deal with flood risk in unincorporated rural and suburban areas of Texas and to ensure that new development in unincorporated areas is not susceptible to flooding.
House Committee on Higher Education and House Committee on Public Education, Subcommittee on Teacher Quality (Joint Hearing)
Charge: Educator preparation programs
- "Rating Teacher-Preparation Programs," Education Next, Summer 2018
- 19 Texas Administrative Code § 228.35, Preparation Program Coursework and/or Training, State Board for Educator Certification
- Approved Educator Preparation Programs, State Board for Educator Certification
- Certification, Texas Education Agency
- Consumer Information About Educator Preparation Programs, Texas Education Agency
House Committee on Higher Education
Charge: Efforts of 2-year and 4-year institutions to implement innovative and non-traditional models of education delivery
- "Design Thinking for Higher Education," Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2018
- College Transformed: Five Institutions Leading the Charge in Innovation, Christensen Institute, February 2017
- Innovation in Higher Education: Can Colleges Really Change?, Fulton-Montgomery Community College (New York), June 2016
- Revolutionizing the Role of the University: Collaboration to Advance Innovation in Higher Education, Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities, 2016
- "The Future of the University: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education," EDUCAUSE Review, November 9, 2015
- A Primer on the Transformation of Higher Education in America (Annotated guide to resources on the changing landscape of American higher education), National Institute of Learning Outcomes Assessment, July 2015
- Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge 2 – Educational innovation), House Committee on Higher Education, January 2015
