In his State of the State Address earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott called on lawmakers “to make the largest investment in water in Texas history.” The 89th Legislature delivered.
While water is traditionally an issue that the Texas Legislature has been reticent to tackle, lawmakers swam against that proverbial current this session by filing over 300 water-related bills. Senate Bill 7 and House Joint Resolution 7, which the governor signed into law last week, are perhaps the most consequential of these bills because they fulfill the promise of the Texas Water Fund, which was previously created by the 88th Legislature and approved by you, the voters, in November 2023. In addition to a one-time injection of $2.5 billion from the state’s current surplus into the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), this latest legislation finally establishes a sustained, dedicated source of funding to meaningfully address the long-term future of our water supplies and infrastructure through the Texas Water Fund.
House Joint Resolution 7 directs the state’s comptroller of public accounts to “deposit to the credit of the Texas Water Fund the net revenue derived from the imposition of the state sales and use tax on the sale, storage, use, or other consumption in this state of taxable items under Chapter 151, Tax Code … provided that the total amount deposited … in a state fiscal year may not exceed $1 billion.” Taxable items under Texas Tax Code Section 151.010 include things like amusement services, cable television services, personal services, motor vehicle parking and storage services, telecommunications services, credit reporting services, debt collection services, insurance services, information services, real property services, data processing services, security services, Internet access service, among other services.
HJR 7 also stipulates that “the duty of the comptroller of public accounts to make a deposit under this section expires” 20 years hence, on August 31, 2047. However, “[t]he legislature by adoption of a concurrent resolution approved by a record vote of a majority of the members of each house of the legislature may extend, in 10-year increments, the duty of the comptroller of public accounts” to continue dedicating up to $1 billion annually to the Texas Water Fund.
Passage of SB 7 into law is especially good news for rural communities because it directs the TWDB to use some of the funding for a “rural water assistance fund” and amends the Texas Water Code Section 15.504(c) to ensure that a portion of any money transferred from the Texas Water Fund is used for “water and wastewater infrastructure projects, prioritized by risk or need” for “rural political subdivisions” and “municipalities with a population of less than 150,000.”
But money alone will not solve our long-standing water issues. SB 7 also includes detailed provisions for an advisory committee to ensure legislative oversight of the fund. It is my hope that this committee will use the Texas Water Fund as an opportunity to reform the culture at the Texas Water Development Board. Anyone who has tried to get funding from the TWDB is well aware that agency staffers frequently obsess over internal protocols and criteria informed by internal prerogatives and priorities based on internal processes and timelines that all too often run counter to solving actual problems in the real world. Not only do these internal dynamics demonstrably hamper communication among the various departments within the agency, they also lead to confusion and frustration among would-be applicants.
As the example of Presidio County clearly shows, outside technical assistance is not enough. The agency itself must be more proactive in helping applicants succeed through the timely guidance that it alone can provide. Perhaps the advisory committee of the Texas Water Fund can assist the TWDB in recognizing and fulfilling its role as a servant of the people of Texas by encouraging it to invest not just money, but also the time and attention necessary to truly understand the plight of the populations it serves. Unless there is a significant change in the way TWDB does business, the underserved, under (human-)resourced communities of Texas are certain to remain largely left behind.
Much of the media coverage of SB 7 and HJR 7 described the legislation as the “governor’s water plan.” That’s a nice way of putting it. But really it’s the culmination of years of work by a handful of sitting and former legislators led by Senator Charles Perry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs, in collaboration with the Texas Water Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, Texas 2036 and others. The successful passage of this latest legislation goes back to the teamwork of these folks who convinced lawmakers to form the Texas Water Caucus during the 88th Legislature. By converting its members into “water champions,” the Water Caucus succeeded in drawing the entire Legislature’s attention to the looming water crisis as a first step in the lengthy process of averting it. SB 7 and HJR 7 represent the next steps in that process, whose ultimate success will depend on all of us working together.
You, the voters, will also have a role to play in bringing this plan to fruition when the corresponding constitutional amendment appears on the ballot this fall. Your vote in favor will be indispensable because the language of Senate Bill 7 states that “[i]f that constitutional amendment is not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.” If you care about water, please take a moment now to ensure that your voter registration is current and mark your calendar for November 4, 2025.
Trey Gerfers serves as general manager of the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District. A San Antonio native, he has lived in Marfa since 2013 and can be reached at tgerfers@pcuwcd.org.
