By: Julie Nahrgang
Texas Water 2024TM was a Texas- sized success that brought just shy of 8,000 folks to the Fort Worth Convention Center. This was by far the largest attended Texas Water, and many thanks go out to Laura Wilson and Mary Gugliuza, the WEAT and TAWWA TXW24 planning committee co-chairs, respectively. The numbers are as follows: 218 sessions, 531 speakers, 720 exhibit booths, and I said, nearly 8,000 people talking Texas water issues. Thank you to all who attended, volunteered, planned, and participated in the Texas Water 2024TM. We will break down and highlight the competition winners, event participants, award winners, and student groups in the next issue of Texas WET.
Springtime in Texas in even years typically means the interim legislative session is upon us. This year is a little different, as interim charges were late on arrival due to our Texas lawmakers serving the most days in session in a single year ever. The 88th Legislative Session brought with it three special sessions, the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the ousting of a Representative, turmoil and party infighting, and a heated primary season. The usual interim session schedule flowed differently this year, to say the least. We first saw the Senate Interim Charges in mid-April, including the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs charges.
The Senate, Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Charges, (SWAR) Interim Charges are as follows:
Water System Reliability: Evaluate water systems in Texas and identify opportunities to better equip those systems to serve the public. Review the coordination of relevant state agencies dealing with Texas water issues and identify opportunities for improved coordination and effectiveness.
Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs passed by the 88th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction. Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following: Senate Bill 28, relating to financial assistance provided and programs administered by the Texas Water Development Board; Senate Bill 1289, relating to the disposal of reclaimed wastewater.
The SWAR will hold at least two committee hearings in the Austin area on May 15 and September 4 to review the interim charges. There will likely be invited testimony and discussion. We know that SB 28 and its implementation will take up a fair amount of air in the room as this is one of Chairman Perry’s legacy bills and marked a generational investment in Texas’ water infrastructure. We will devote more time to the outcome of these hearings in a later issue.
The House Charges came out even later than the Senate. With House Natural Resources Committee (HNRC) Chairman, Tracy O. King announcing the 88th session would be his last and he would not seek reelection, the House was even further delayed.
HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE (HNRC) INTERIM CHARGES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. Monitoring: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 88th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rule making and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
• SB 28, relating to financial assistance provided and programs administered by the Texas Water Development Board.
2. Water Reuse Expansion: Examine opportunities to expand the reuse of waters in Texas as an additional water supply and identify funding deficiencies for water reuse projects and regulatory impediments that make expansion of water reuse difficult in Texas.
3. Reliability of Clean Water Access: Evaluate the causes, durations, and incidence of boil water notices issued by public water systems. Identify solutions to keep critical water infrastructure online during public water system failures and consider whether policy changes are necessary to prevent interruption to the public’s access to clean, reliable drinking water.
4. Groundwater Infrastructure: Examine Texas groundwater data infrastructure, data collection, and monitoring practices and identify policy solutions for improvement in the areas of understanding local groundwater conditions, groundwater modeling for planning, and decision-making; and resource management.
There will likely be one hearing for HNRC. WEAT is particularly interested in the Water Reuse Expansion charge and monitoring the implementation of legislation. WEAT is also monitoring and participating in the implementation process of SB 28. Texas Water Development Board recently sought comments on the implementation of SB 28. WEAT provided comments on April 30 praising the TWDB for their work, encouraging flexibility of funding available and spreading it across existing key programs, emphasizing the gaps in programs available that fund wastewater projects, and highlighting burdensome federal requirements that accompany Clean Water SRFs. We look forward to working with the TWDB throughout the implementation process.
This year’s primary season brought a number of twists and turns that were not entirely unforeseen. We knew things would be different with the political rancor and the many lawmakers NOT seeking reelection. The biggest story out of primaries and primary runoffs was the Speaker of the House, Representative Dade Phelan, was in a tight primary runoff to save his seat against challenger David Covey. Phelan won by 366 votes out of the 25,260 total votes cast.
TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Republican: Only two incumbents won – Speaker Dade Phelan (Beaumont) and Gary Van Deaver (New Boston). Five incumbents lost – Pierson beat Holland (Rockwall); Schoolcraft beat Kuempel (Sequin); Kerwin beat Burns (Cleburne); Richardson beat Frazier (McKinney); and Hopper beat Stucky (Denton).
The following individuals won run-off elections for open seats: Wharton (College Station); Barry (Pearland); Louderback (Victoria); Simmons (Sugar Land); McQueeney (Fort Worth)
Democratic: The only incumbent involved in a run-off election lost – Shawn Thierry of Houston was beaten by Lauren Ashley Simmons.
The following individuals won run-off elections for open seats: Gracia (Brownsville/San Benito); Perez (El Paso); Castellano (Uvalde/South Texas); Walker (Fort Worth); Ward Johnson (Houston)
TEXAS SENATE:
Republican: Brent Hagenbuch beat Jace Yarbrough in District 30 which is an open seat due to the retirement of Senator Drew Springer.
Democratic: Molly Cook beat Jarvis Johnson to win the run-off election in the seat vacated by current City of Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Dale Frey beat Michael Braxton in District 30.
On the Federal front, on April 19, the EPA designated PFOA and PFOS under CERCLA. This has been anticipated for years now and the timeline to designation was well known. See the press release at the following link.
In an attempt to answer how this impacts water utilities, (without a standing exemption), EPA released this discretion enforcement policy.
The press release says, “The policy also reflects that EPA does not intend to pursue entities where equitable factors do not support seeking response actions or costs under CERCLA, including farmers, municipal landfills, water utilities, municipal airports, and local fire departments.”
Find the final rule website here.
Find the final rule here.
As discussed previously, citizens can still file suit without an explicit exemption for water utilities under CERCit. While the EPA states it will pursue enforcement against the manufacturers of PFAS, not the passive recipients like utilities, this does not prevent citizen suits. We will continue to track the committee hearings on PFAS on the Federal level and any movement on S. 1430, the Water Systems PFAS Liability Protection Act sponsored by Senator Lummis.
Also on the federal front and critical to our water sector are the funding levels in the federal budget for SRFs and the resurgence of earmarks. WEAT continues to work with other impactful water organizations in the state to advocate for a return of full funding for SRFs and the removal of earmarks. According to CIFA, Texas is one of 33 states that have experienced a net loss of federal funding for water infrastructure because Congress is using the SRF capitalization grants to pay for congressional earmarks. And Texas takes a particularly large hit, experiencing a net loss of $105 million SRF funding in three years.
As things heat up in the Texas legislature and Texas summertime, WEAT will continue to monitor, collaborate, and advocate for good clean water policy. We look forward to a productive summer of office visits and building relationships with our Texas lawmakers as we march closer to the kickoff of the 89th Texas Legislature. WEAT and TACWA will host the Horizon Conference on November 12, 2024, at the Long Center in Austin, Texas, to help inform our lawmakers and WEAT members on water issues and water policy in the upcoming session and issues. As always, stay well, continue the good water work, and we hope to see you at an upcoming event.