The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Texas restricts groundwater export permits and requires multi-district board approval for large transfers
Last action · August 13, 2025: FiledSponsor: Cody Harris
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What This Bill Proposed
Texas s are prohibited from issuing certain new export permits exceeding five percent of after December 1, 2025, and must obtain two-thirds approval from other districts in the management area for well transfers of 25,000 gallons or more per day.
Water utilities and applicants seeking to transport groundwater outside district boundaries face stricter caps and a mandatory multi-district voting requirement before permits can be issued.
- Groundwater conservation districts in Texas are local special districts authorized to regulate the pumping and export of groundwater to protect aquifers. context
- Modeled available groundwater figures are determined by the state's executive administrator to assist in regional water planning and management. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
groundwater conservation districts
Groundwater conservation districts must enforce new permit caps, notify neighboring districts of large-scale transfer applications, and secure multi-district board approval before issuing permits.
groundwater permit applicants
Applicants seeking to produce and transfer groundwater out of a district face strict percentage caps and a requirement for multi-district board approval for wells producing 25,000 gallons or more per day.
retail public utilities
Retail public utilities lose the specific exemption that classified certain out-of-district service area deliveries as internal transfers.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who must approve groundwater transfers of 25,000 gallons or more per day?
How are retail public utilities affected regarding water transfers?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · introduced in the House.
Procedural history
1 action- Aug 13, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Stricter Multi-District Oversight for Water Transfers
The legislation shifts authority from single-district decisions to a mandatory two-thirds management area consensus for large groundwater transfers exceeding 25,000 gallons per day.
Connected Entities
Sources
capitol.texas.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy65Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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