Video & Transcript Research : 'House Resolution 134'

Page 78 of 500
MN

Minnesota 2025 1st Special Session

House Ways and Means Committee 2/17/25

Ways and Means

Transcript Highlights:
  • If you are interested in signing on, I would like to call the meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee
  • Specifically, the House Ways and Means Committee reviewed House File 5363 and the associated fiscal note
  • 06.440> the session Law chapter 59 specifically the session Law chapter 59 specifically the house
  • ways a Means Committee reviewed house ways a Means Committee reviewed house<00:03:08.040> fall
  • fall 5363 and the associated house fall 5363 and the associated fiscal<00:03:10.480> note<00:
Bills: HF3
TX

Texas 89th 2nd C.S.

Natural Resources Jul 15th, 2025

Natural Resources

Transcript Highlights:
  • House committees are subject to the same rules of decorum that govern House proceedings.
  • So under this particular page, 134 million, 134 thousand acre-feet per year over 251 is potentially not
  • The highest hill is there behind our house.
  • If you could see my house.
  • I worked with him in the House, but I...
Summary: The committee held a hearing on high-capacity groundwater wells proposed in Anderson, Henderson, and Houston counties, with members framing the issue as one of local water supply, fairness, and the need to modernize groundwater law while protecting private property rights. Opening remarks focused on the scale of the proposed Redtown Ranch and Pine Bliss projects, the potential export of tens of thousands of acre-feet of groundwater annually, and concerns that the applications lacked sufficient technical detail and could harm nearby landowners, cities, agriculture, and manufacturing. Members also noted the broader context of the recent flooding tragedy in central Texas and the Legislature’s intent to address water-related loss of life in the upcoming special session. Witnesses from the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts and the Texas Water Development Board explained the current groundwater management framework. They described groundwater conservation districts as the state’s preferred management method, the role of groundwater management areas and desired future conditions, and how the Water Development Board uses those conditions to calculate modeled available groundwater. They emphasized that districts rely on local data, monitoring wells, and planning processes, but that information is often more limited in areas without a district, where the rule of capture applies. Members pressed witnesses on recharge rates, export permits, subsidence, the effect of pumping on nearby wells, the age and real-time availability of model data, and whether the proposed project would exceed modeled available groundwater in some counties. TCEQ explained its limited oversight role over groundwater conservation districts, including inquiries, compliance actions, and, in extreme cases, dissolution authority. Water Development Board staff also outlined funding programs, saying the New Water Supply for Texas Fund is limited to projects such as brackish desalination, reuse, ASR, and other new-supply projects, and does not fund fresh groundwater exports alone. They said the project at issue had not applied for board funding. A water lawyer then testified on the rule of capture, ownership in place, and district regulation, arguing that districts must use permitting and other tools to manage production within modeled available groundwater and that the Legislature could consider additional authority over groundwater exports under current law.