83rd Texas Legislature Regular Session, January 28, 2013, update

CEC is sharing information during the session about what bills our member groups and readers are tracking. More information is available at cechouston.org/category/texas-legislature/.

As of January 28, 2013, 286 bills have been filed by the Senate (up from 201) and 748 bills have been filed by the House (up from 626). Learn more at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/General.aspx.

The following are bills (SB=Senate Bill, HB=House Bill, and HJR=House Joint Resolution) which may be of interest to the region’s environmental community and which have been filed in the past week:

• SB 186: Relating to the abatement of mosquitoes in stagnant water located on certain uninhabited residential property.
• SB 198: Relating to restrictive covenants regulating drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving turf.
• SB 199: Relating to the evaluation by applicants for permits for certain electric generating facilities of water-efficient cooling technologies.
• SB 224: Relating to the availability of money from the economic stabilization fund to be used for the purposes of projects in the state water plan.
• SB 234: Relating to the creation, purpose, implementation, and funding of the County Park Beautification and Improvement Program.
• SB 235: Relating to the creation of regional authorities for water infrastructure projects.
• SB 241: Relating to the authority of an electric customer to choose not to have a utility’s advanced meter.
• SB 269: Relating to an exemption for land owned by a school from the additional tax imposed on the change of use of land appraised for ad valorem tax purposes as qualified open-space land.
• SB 272: Relating to water well recordkeeping and reporting requirements, including the production, use, and withdrawal of groundwater.
• HB 597: Relating to boater education and examinations on preventing the spread of exotic harmful or potentially harmful aquatic plants, fish, and shellfish.
• HB 611: Relating to the regulation of subdivisions in counties, including certain border and economically distressed counties.
• HB 622: Relating to the report by the General Land Office to the legislature on the effectiveness of the coastal management program.
• HB 629: Relating to the regulation of dangerous wild animals.
• HB 635: Relating to the sunset review of the Lower Colorado River Authority.
• HB 648: Relating to prohibiting the land disposal of computer equipment and certain television equipment.
• HB 677: Relating to the regulation and enforcement of dam safety by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
• HB 725: Relating to the establishment of a community development grocery store revolving loan fund program.
• HB 727: Relating to restrictive covenants regulating drought-resistant landscaping.
• HB 752: Relating to the types of entities that are considered municipal water suppliers for purposes of the law governing the effect of the subdivision of certain land on certain irrigation water rights.
• HB 754: Relating to prohibiting the use of eminent domain to take private property for recreational purposes.
• HB 756: Relating to the establishment of a program to refund annually certain dedicated tax or fee revenues that remain unspent for the particular purposes or entities for which they were collected.