H.B. No. 3079

AN ACT

relating to the development and financing of a statewide aquatic vegetation management plan.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended by adding Subchapter G to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER G. AQUATIC VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

Sec. 11.081.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1)  "Governing entity" means the state agency or other political subdivision with jurisdiction over a public body of surface water.

(2)  "Integrated pest management" means the coordinated use of pest and environmental information and pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and in a manner that will cause the least possible hazard to persons, property, and the environment.

(3)  "Local plan" means a local aquatic vegetation management plan authorized by Section 11.083.

(4)  "Public body of surface water" means any body of surface water that is not used exclusively for an agricultural purpose. The term does not include impounded water on private property.

(5)  "State plan" means the state aquatic vegetation management plan authorized by Section 11.082 and developed and implemented under this subchapter.

(6)  "Water district" means a conservation and reclamation district or an authority created under authority of Section 52(b)(1) or (2), Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that has jurisdiction over a public body of surface water. The term does not include a navigation district or a port authority.

Sec. 11.082.  STATE AQUATIC VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PLAN. (a) The department shall develop and by rule adopt a state aquatic vegetation management plan following the generally accepted principles of integrated pest management. The state plan shall apply throughout the state unless a governmental entity has adopted an approved local plan.

(b)  The department shall develop the state plan in coordination with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the Department of Agriculture, water districts and other political subdivisions of the state with jurisdiction over public bodies of surface water, and public drinking water providers.

(c)  The state plan must:

(1)  establish minimum standards for a governing entity that regulates a public body of surface water;

(2)  require that any application of aquatic herbicide complies with label rates approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency;

(3)  ensure that any public drinking water provider that has an intake within two river miles of a site at which an application of aquatic herbicide is proposed to occur receives notice of the proposed application not later than the 14th day before the date the application is to occur;

(4)  provide for the coordination, oversight, public notification, and enforcement of all aquatic herbicide use to protect state fish and wildlife resources and habitat and to prevent unreasonable risk from the use of any aquatic herbicide; and

(5)  require that the written notice of a proposed application of herbicide include information demonstrating that the proposed application of herbicide under a plan will not result in exceeding:

(A)  the maximum contaminant level of the herbicide in finished drinking water as set by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and the United States Environmental Protection Agency; or

(B)  the maximum label rate, if the aquatic herbicide does not have a maximum contaminant level established by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Sec. 11.083.  LOCAL AQUATIC VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PLAN. (a) A governing entity may develop and adopt a local aquatic vegetation management plan. A local plan must be approved by the department, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, and the Department of Agriculture.

(b)  A local plan may take into account the particular needs and uses of the public bodies of surface water to which it will apply, but the plan may not be approved unless the plan meets the minimum standards set by the state plan. The local plan may allow herbicide use if the person proposing to apply the herbicide notifies the governing entity not later than the 14th day before the proposed date of application.

Sec. 11.084.  APPLICATION OF AQUATIC HERBICIDE IN PUBLIC BODY OF SURFACE WATER. (a) No person may apply aquatic herbicide in a public body of surface water unless the herbicide is applied in a manner consistent with the plan adopted by the governing entity.

(b)  State money may not be used to pay for treatment of a public body of surface water with a chemical herbicide unless the application of the herbicide is performed by an applicator licensed for aquatic herbicide application by the Department of Agriculture.

(c)  An individual who does not hold an applicator's license and who desires to apply an aquatic herbicide on a public body of surface water shall give written notice not later than the 14th day before the date the application of the aquatic herbicide is to occur to the governing entity with jurisdiction over the body of water on which the application of the herbicide is proposed. The governing entity shall respond to the individual's application not later than the day before the date the application of the aquatic herbicide is to occur. The individual may not apply the aquatic herbicide unless the governing entity finds that the application will be consistent with the state or local plan adopted by the entity.

(d)  The state plan may provide for use of an aquatic herbicide consistent with the plan if:

(1)  the individual who desires to apply the aquatic herbicide gives notice to the appropriate governing entity in the same manner as provided by Subsection (c) for an unlicensed applicator; and

(2)  the governing entity does not disapprove the application.

(e)  After receiving notice of a proposed application of aquatic herbicide, the governing entity shall:

(1)  provide the individual proposing the application with a copy of the state or local plan, as appropriate;

(2)  notify the individual in writing that it is a violation of state law to apply aquatic herbicides in that body of water in a manner inconsistent with the plan; and

(3)  determine whether the proposed application is consistent with the plan.

(f)  The governing entity shall:

(1)  prohibit a proposed application of aquatic herbicide if the governing entity finds that the proposed application is inconsistent with the appropriate plan; or

(2)  notify the individual proposing the application of the herbicide that the proposed application is not inconsistent with the appropriate plan if the governing entity finds that the proposed application is not inconsistent with the plan.

Sec. 11.085.  LIABILITY. (a) The liability under other law of a governing entity that receives notice of a proposed application of aquatic herbicide is not affected by the requirements of this subchapter.

(b)  Notice by a governing entity to an individual under Section 11.084(f)(2) does not constitute authorization by that entity for the application of the herbicide.

(c)  This subchapter does not relieve an individual who applies aquatic herbicide to a public body of surface water of the obligation to comply with all applicable federal, state, or local laws, rules, ordinances, or orders relating to the application of the herbicide in the body of water.

Sec. 11.086.  RECORDS. A governing entity shall maintain for not less than five years all records relating to notifications received under Section 11.084 and any other information relevant to a particular individual request for shoreline treatment.

SECTION 2.  Chapter 15, Water Code, is amended by adding Subchapter N to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER N. AQUATIC VEGETATION MANAGEMENT FUND

Sec. 15.851.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1)  "Approved local plan" means a local plan authorized by Section 11.083, Parks and Wildlife Code, that has been approved by the Parks and Wildlife Commission, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, and the Department of Agriculture as required by Section 11.083, Parks and Wildlife Code.

(2)  Notwithstanding Section 15.001, "fund" means the aquatic vegetation management fund established under this subchapter.

(3)  Notwithstanding Section 15.001, "political subdivision" means a municipality, a county, a water district, or a state agency.

(4)  "Water district" means a conservation and reclamation district or an authority created under authority of Section 52(b)(1) or (2), Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that has jurisdiction over a public body of surface water. The term does not include a navigation district or a port authority.

Sec. 15.852.  CREATION OF FUND. (a) The aquatic vegetation management fund is a special account in the water assistance fund.

(b)  The fund consists of:

(1)  money appropriated to the board for the program established under this subchapter and Subchapter G, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife Code;

(2)  money transferred by the board from other accounts in the water assistance fund under Section 15.011(b); and

(3)  interest earned on the investment of money in the fund.

Sec. 15.853.  USE OF FUND. (a) Money in the fund may be used only for the following purposes, in the following order of priority:

(1)  grants to the Parks and Wildlife Department:

(A)  to develop a state aquatic vegetation management plan in coordination with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the Department of Agriculture, water districts and other political subdivisions with jurisdiction over public bodies of surface water, and public drinking water providers, as required by Section 11.082, Parks and Wildlife Code; or

(B)  for research, outreach, and educational activities that relate to vegetation control;

(2)  grants to political subdivisions to develop local aquatic vegetation management plans that conform to the state aquatic vegetation management plan, as authorized by Section 11.083, Parks and Wildlife Code; and

(3)  grants to political subdivisions to manage aquatic vegetation infestations under the state plan or the approved local plan adopted by the political subdivision.

(b)  The amount of funding for the purposes authorized by Subsection (a) may not exceed amounts equal to the following percentages of any biennial appropriation to the board for use under this subchapter:

(1)  30 percent, for purposes authorized by Subsection (a)(1); and

(2)  70 percent, for purposes authorized by Subsections (a)(2) and (3), of which not more than 35 percent may be used for purposes authorized by Subsection (a)(3) using chemical treatments.

Sec. 15.854.  RULES. The board shall adopt rules necessary to administer this subchapter, including rules establishing procedures for application for and award of grants, distribution of grants, and administration of grants and the grant program established under this subchapter.

SECTION 3.  Section 15.002(a), Water Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a)  The legislature finds that it is in the public interest and to the benefit of the general public of the state to encourage and to assist in the planning and construction of projects to develop and conserve the storm water and floodwater as well as the ordinary flows of the rivers and streams of the state, to maintain and enhance the quality of the water of the state, to provide protection to the state's citizens from the floodwater of the rivers and streams of the state, to provide drainage, subsidence control, public beach nourishment, recharge, chloride control, and desalinization, to provide for the management of aquatic vegetation, and other purposes as provided by law or board rule.

SECTION 4.  Section 15.011(b), Water Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b)  After notice and hearing and subject to any limitations established by the General Appropriations Act, the board may transfer money from the fund to the loan fund created under Subchapter C of this chapter, the storage acquisition fund created under Subchapter E of this chapter, the research and planning fund created under Subchapter F of this chapter, [and] the hydrographic survey account created under Subchapter M of this chapter, provided the hydrographic survey account transfer does not exceed $425,000, and the aquatic vegetation management fund created under Subchapter N of this chapter.

SECTION 5.  Section 15.012(c), Water Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c)  Money appropriated to the fund by the legislature for a specific purpose stated in Subchapter C, E, F, [or] M, or N of this chapter shall be placed in the appropriate fund created by that subchapter.

SECTION 6.  (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1999.

(b)  The Parks and Wildlife Commission is required to implement this Act only if the legislature appropriates money specifically for that purpose. If the legislature does not appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the commission may, but is not required to, implement this Act.

(c)  Sections 11.083, 11.084, 11.085, and 11.086, Parks and Wildlife Code, as added by this Act, take effect on the date on which the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission publishes notice in the Texas Register of the final adoption of a state aquatic vegetation management plan under Section 11.082, Parks and Wildlife Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

_______________________________ _______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3079 was passed by the House on May 7, 1999, by a non-record vote; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to H.B. No. 3079 on May 26, 1999, and requested the appointment of a conference committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No. 3079 on May 29, 1999, by a non-record vote.

_______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3079 was passed by the Senate, with amendments, on May 24, 1999, by a viva-voce vote; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No. 3079 on May 30, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.

_______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: _____________________

Date

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Governor