What happened to those groundwater bills at the Legislature?

In April, we wrote about a few bills filed at the Legislature that would have eased restrictions on groundwater pumping in Hays County. House Bill 4122, for example would have allowed a 5,000-acre property between San Marcos and Wimberley to choose which groundwater conservation district—entities responsible for regulating groundwater in the state—it wanted to be regulated by. That could be an issue because some groundwater districts have less ability to enforce pumping restrictions than others.

HB 4122 was approved by the House but died in the Senate when the regular session ended May 31.

State Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, said he wants to have a broader conversation about how the state regulates groundwater. To that end, he filed a bill that would have dissolved five groundwater conservation districts and created one massive district in its place. It also failed to gain traction and died at the end of the session, but Isaac said he hopes to start a discussion about how the state regulates groundwater.

“We shouldn’t have to deal with this every legislative session,” Isaac said. “We shouldn’t have to play defense to protect the Wimberley Valley.”