We’re more than halfway through the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature, and the race is on to get bills heard by committees and approved by both chambers before everything wraps up on June 2. House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Senate Water Committee chair Charles Perry have both made water bills a priority for our state’s lawmakers this year. SBCA is tracking the most significant water and wastewater legislation, and you can read our assessments of key bills below. We’re also providing details on how to contact legislators to let them know which bills you support or oppose.
Our next update will focus on SB 1911, the Pristine Streams Protection bill, which is the top priority in this session for SBCA and the Wastewater Conservation Coalition. This bill would allow the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to stop issuing most new wastewater discharge permits on the state’s last remaining Pristine Streams. This is a necessary step to prevent the kind of algae pollution that we’ve seen on the South San Gabriel River below Liberty Hill’s wastewater discharge outlet.
Keep reading for a list of bills that SBCA is tracking in this year's next session.
SBCA's 2025 Legislative Guide
One of the most important things to know about the Texas Legislature is that it doesn’t have a lot of time to pass bills – just 140 calendar days every other year. (Our legislature is one of only four in the country that doesn’t meet every year – click here for the other three.) This year’s session started on January 14 and will end on June 2. The actual amount of time to get through most legislative steps can be even shorter. For example, the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs will be considering a limited number of Senate bills in only nine weekly meetings from February 24 to April 28. And the House didn’t even pass its first bills until this past Tuesday, April 1. That’s why a bill should be evaluated not just on its merits, but also on whether there’s enough time for it to have a chance of completing all of the steps necessary for passage. These are the key steps that a bill must check off in each chamber, whether it was originally filed in the House or Senate:
Chamber #1
1) Bill is referred to a committee. For example, a water bill filed in the Senate would be referred to the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs.
2) Bill is heard by the committee. Most bills are “left pending” in committee after a hearing. Many bills never move past this step.
3) Bill is approved in a committee vote. The bill then goes to the Calendars Committee, which decides when – or even if – a bill will be scheduled for a floor vote by the full chamber.
4) Bill is approved in a chamber vote. The bill then goes to:
Chamber #2
5-8) The bill will have to repeat the same steps as in Chamber #1. In other words, a bill has to complete step 8 in order to make it onto the governor’s desk.
While SBCA thinks that most of the following bills are good ones, some have better odds for passage than others. We’ve grouped these bills into the following categories: Water Conservation, Groundwater, Wastewater, and Development Regulations. Each bill number is linked to a webpage that contains more detailed list of the legislative steps that it’s completed so far, as well as a text copy of the bill and supporting material. These webpages are on the Texas Legislature Online (TLO) website, which is at capitol.texas.gov. Each bill’s author is listed in parentheses, and the highest step that each bill has completed so far is listed after its description. Some bills are filed identically in both chambers and are listed as companion bills to each other.
You can email legislators to express your opinion on these bills or any others. This is the email address format for representatives:
[email protected]
This is the email address format for senators:
[email protected]
If you have questions about any of these bills, you can contact SBCA at [email protected].
Water Conservation
It should be obvious – every drop of water that we don’t use in or around our homes is a drop of water that doesn’t need to be piped into our homes. These bills would take different approaches to increasing water conservation in Texas.
HJR 88, HB 1256 (Rep. Erin Zwiener) – These two pieces of legislation would allow counties to give property tax discounts for the installation of rainwater harvesting or greywater reuse systems. (Greywater is non-toilet wastewater.) HJR 88 would authorize a constitutional amendment for this proposal to be placed on the November general election ballot; HB 1256 would be the enabling legislation if Texas voters approve the amendment. Stage: (2) Left pending in House Committee on Ways & Means.
Companion bills: SJR 60, SB 1633 (Sen. Donna Campbell) – Stage: (1) Referred to Senate Committee on Local Government.
HB 517 (Rep. Caroline Harris Davila) – This bill would prohibit homeowners associations (HOAs) from fining homeowners who have brown lawns during residential watering restrictions imposed by the local water authority. Stage: (3) Approved by House Committee on Trade, Workforce & Economic Development; sent to Calendars Committee to be scheduled for a floor vote.
Companion bill: SB 542 (Sen. Charles Schwertner) – Stage: (2) Left pending in Senate Committee on Business & Commerce.
HB 2015 (Rep. Erin Zwiener) – This bill would require that applications filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to create a Municipal Utility District must include a water conservation plan for the MUD. Stage: (2) Left pending in House Committee on Land & Resource Management.
SB 1253 (Sen. Charles Perry) – This bill would require cities to reduce impact fees for new developments that include features for water reuse, conservation, or savings. Cities levy impact fees to pay for the cost of extending services such as water and wastewater lines to a new development. New developments with features that reduce per-unit water consumption, or that reduce the size of the wastewater and/or stormwater system needed for the development, would be eligible for impact fee reductions. Stage: (4) Approved by the Senate and sent to the House; waiting for assignment to a House committee.SB 1624 (Sen. Nathan Johnson) – This bill would expand the mission of the Texas Water Trust, which acquires water rights by donation, lease, or purchase for the purpose of environmental needs. SB 1624 would allow the trust to also acquire water rights for the purpose of conservation and water supply management. Stage: (1) Referred to Senate Committee on Water.
SB 1624 (Sen. Nathan Johnson) – This bill would expand the mission of the Texas Water Trust, which acquires water rights by donation, lease, or purchase for the purpose of environmental needs. SB 1624 would allow the trust to also acquire water rights for the purpose of conservation and water supply management. Stage: (1) Referred to Senate Committee on Water.
Groundwater
“Groundwater” is the term used in Texas laws and regulations for what most of us would call underground water – water that’s pumped out of a well that’s been drilled into an underground reservoir, called an aquifer. The amount of time that it takes for an aquifer to be refilled with water can sometimes take years, decades, or even centuries, which is why they can be pumped dry by too many wells. Texas has created groundwater conservation districts (GCDs) to make sure that this doesn’t happen. Unfortunately, the state hasn’t given GCDs all of the authority and resources that they need to regulate well permits and manage aquifer levels. You can read more about the problem in this new Texas Tribune story.
