HBA-MPM H.B. 963 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 963 By: Jones, Delwin Natural Resources 3/1/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The filling of playa lakes by contractors in Lubbock, Texas creates flooding problems for some areas of the city. H.B. 963 authorizes the governing body of a home-rule municipality with a population of 185,000 or more, as a method of stormwater management, to regulate the alteration or filling of a playa lake within the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to prevent harmful flooding or excess surface water. Furthermore, this bill prohibits regulations adopted under this Act from interfering with certain agricultural practices. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 401, Local Government Code, by adding Section 401.004, as follows: Sec. 401.004. PROTECTION OF PLAYA LAKES BY CERTAIN HOME-RULE MUNICIPALITIES. (a) Defines "playa lake" as a flat-floored, clayey bottom of an undrained basin located in an arid or semiarid part of the state, is naturally dry most of the year, and collects runoff from rain but is subject to rapid evaporation. Specifies that this term includes all areas within the highest point of the elevation of the surface water of the playa lake in the event of a 100-year design storm event. (b) Authorizes the governing body of a home-rule municipality with a population of 185,000 or more to regulate the alteration or filling of a playa lake within the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to prevent harmful flooding or excess surface water as a method for stormwater management. (c) Provides that a regulation adopted under this section may not interfere with normal agricultural practices, including moving soil, berming for tail water reuse, plowing, seeding, cultivating, and harvesting for the production of food or fiber; or prohibit any practice or activity that does not decrease the water holding capacity of a playa lake. "Berming" is defined as creating a strip of ground along a dike or creating a mound of earth; and "tail water" is defined as water below a dam or water-power development or excess surface water draining, especially from a field under cultivation (paraphrased, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition). SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.