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.