By: Julie Nahrgang

With 2024 in the rearview mirror, 2025 promises to be a big water year with big changes both in Texas and the US. While we await the confirmation of President Trump's pick to lead the EPA, Lee Zeldin, we know many initiatives pushed by the Biden administration will continue moving forward. And for the clean water side, most people are honing in on the milestones from EPA’s PFAS roadmap. EPA’s PFAS in biosolids risk assessment should be out any day now. And soon after the risk assessment drops, we will see the beginning of the National Sewage Sludge Survey, of which 27 Texas plants will be told to participate. I’ll dig deeper in the survey in the next issue. But, it is clear that the forward push of science and data gathering will inform future PFAS limits and regulation.

These changes and continued movement on the national front are mirrored by the many changes and water news in Texas as well. The “big three” in the Texas Legislature are Governor Abbot, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and the soon-to-be determined Speaker of the House. While the Lt. Governor presides over the Senate, the Speaker presides over the House and is determined by the House members through a vote. Previous speaker and water advocate, Dade Phelan has stepped out of the Speaker race after a bruising primary where the Lt. Governor signaled support for a vying Republican primary candidate. After the contentious 88th, the three special sessions, the impeachment of the Attorney General, former Speaker Dade Phelan's base was eroded and he announced he will not seek reelection as Speaker. He has, however, endorsed Representative Duston Burrows, who would likely lead the House in a similar fashion. The other candidate that has risen to the top of the Speaker’s race is Representative David Cooke of Mansfield. Representative Cooke is supported by a faction of Republicans that have vowed to strip all Democrats of Committee Chair positions, which would be a first since the inception of the Texas Legislature.

Several weeks to a month after the outcome of the Speaker’s race is determined, we should see the selection of Chair positions for the Committees. Those of us watching water in the 89th Legislature are all but assured to see Chair Perry once again lead the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee as Chair. The House Natural Resources Committee, however, is far less certain. After the retirement of Chair Tracy King and Vice Chair Ed Thompson, there is no clear successor. We will closely watch the Speaker’s selection of the House Natural Resources, Environmental Regulations, and Livestock and Agriculture Committees as bills important to the clean water sector will likely all pass through these committees.

The first day of the 89th Texas Legislature began on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. However, pre‑filing has been moving along since November 12, 2024, committees have held hearings covering their interim charges, and the sunset process has been steadily moving forward for some time now. In reality, the machinations have been churning since the third special of the 88th ended and plenty of impactful bills have already been filed.

WEAT is tracking bills important to clean water professionals and Texas’ water resources in general. To see WEAT’s tracking list that is updated weekly, head to https://www.weat.org/legislative-issues-updated.

Important to Texas’ water professionals are the legislative and regulatory movements around PFAS and biosolids. Here’s a quick timeline below:

•January of 2025: EPA will release its DRAFT Biosolids Risk Assessment.

•1/06/2025: Texas State Chemist drops pursuit of rule change for biosolids fertilizers due to filing of HB 1674.

•12/19/2024: Representative Kirwin files HB 1674 relating to the production, sale, and use of certain agricultural products containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); creating a criminal offense.

•09/06/2024: Texas State Chemist published proposed rulemaking in Texas Registrar prohibiting land application of biosolids fertilizers containing PFAS.

If you are a member of WEAT and would like to be included in WEAT’s Legislative and Regulatory roundup where we’ll analyse and discuss bills and regulatory changes in greater detail, email admin@weat.org and note Roundup in the subject line.

Still on the horizon is Senator Perry’s water bill. Texas saw one of the most consequential water sessions in the 88th after the passage of SB 28 and the subsequent Proposition 6, which was the Texas voter passed proposition to create the Water Fund. And since then, all of the $1B transferred into the TWF has been spoken for. When the water needs are as big as they are in Texas, $1B doesn’t take long to fly out the door. This legislative Session, Perry is pushing for another bite at water funding. There’s been a flurry of articles, conferences, and quotes from Perry advocating for another one-time capital infusion and a continuing or dedicated water funding source. It’s yet-to-be-known what that dedicated funding will look like, but it could mirror the parks approach whereby a portion of sales tax for certain goods moves into a different fund to point at water. Another possibility could be the transportation model, which is a bit more complicated and involves a percentage of severance tax. While we’re not sure what the dedicated funding will look like, we do know that Senator Perry’s plan will involve a percentage of the funding pointed at large water resource projects. Perry called these “new water” projects in SB 28, which included sea water and brackish desalination, reusing produced water for purposes other than oil and gas, ASR projects, and moving water from these large projects around the state.

As the session progresses, WEAT will continue to track all clean water sector bills, including the movement of HB 1674 (Kirwin’s PFAS in biosolids bill) and Perry’s plan.

Take care, continue the good work, and let any of us at WEAT know how we can support your work for water!