Proposing a constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.

89(R) HJR 7 - Enrolled version - Bill Text

H.J.R. No. 7

A JOINT RESOLUTION

proposing a constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the

revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water

fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.

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

SECTION 1. Section 49-d-16, Article III, Texas

Constitution, as proposed by S.J.R. 75, 88th Legislature, Regular

Session, 2023, is amended by amending Subsections (c) and (e) and

adding Subsections (e-1), (e-2), and (e-3) to read as follows:

(c) The Texas water fund consists of:

(1) money transferred or deposited to the credit of

the fund
under this constitution or
by general law, including money

appropriated by the legislature directly to the fund and money from

any source transferred or deposited to the credit of the fund

authorized
by this constitution or
by general law;

(2) any other revenue that the legislature by statute

dedicates for deposit to the credit of the fund;

(3) investment earnings and interest earned on amounts

credited to the fund;

(4) money from gifts, grants, or donations to the

fund; [
and
]

(5) money returned from any authorized transfer
; and

(6)

money in accounts established in the fund under

this constitution or by general law
.

(e)
The legislature by general law or by adoption of a

concurrent resolution approved by a record vote of a majority of the

members of each house may allocate for transfer to the funds and

accounts administered by the Texas Water Development Board or that

board's successor the money deposited to the credit of the Texas

water fund under Section 7-e, Article VIII, of this constitution.

The allocation of money prescribed by a general law or resolution

under this subsection may not be changed by the legislature during

the first 10 fiscal years for which the money is allocated by the

general law or resolution.

Any money deposited to the credit of the

Texas water fund under Section 7-e, Article VIII, of this

constitution that is not allocated by a general law or resolution

under this subsection may be transferred to other funds or accounts

by the Texas Water Development Board or that board's successor in

accordance with Subsection (b) of this section.

(e-1)

During a state of disaster declared under Chapter 418,

Government Code, or its successor, an allocation made under

Subsection (e) of this section may be suspended through the budget

execution process under Chapter 317, Government Code, or its

successor, or by adoption of a concurrent resolution approved by a

record vote of a majority of the members of each house.

During a

suspension of an allocation under this subsection, the money that

would have been allocated but for the suspension is subject to

appropriation by the legislature for any purpose.

It is the intent

of the legislature that any money repurposed under this subsection

be restored to the Texas water fund when practicable.

(e-2)
Of the amount of money initially appropriated to the

Texas water fund, the administrator of the fund shall allocate not

less than 25 percent to be used only for transfer to the New Water

Supply for Texas Fund.

(e-3)

This subsection and Subsections (e), (e-1), and (e-2)

of this section expire August 31, 2047.

SECTION 2. Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by

adding Section 7-e to read as follows:

Sec.

7-e.

(a)

Subject to Section 7-d of this article and

Subsection (b) of this section, in each state fiscal year, the

comptroller of public accounts shall deposit to the credit of the

Texas water fund the first $1 billion of 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, or its successor, that exceeds the

first $46.5 billion of that revenue coming into the treasury in that

state fiscal year.

(b)

The duty of the comptroller of public accounts to make a

deposit under this section expires August 31, 2047.

(c)

Money deposited to the credit of the Texas water fund

under Subsection (a) of this section may not be transferred to the

New Water Supply for Texas Fund for the purpose of financing the

construction of infrastructure to transport groundwater that was

produced from a well in this state and that, at the time of

production, was not brackish, as that term is defined by general

law. This subsection applies to the construction of infrastructure

to transport water produced from a well associated with an aquifer

storage and recovery project only if the water injected as part of

the project was groundwater described by this subsection.

(d)

Notwithstanding Section 49-d-16(b), Article III, of

this constitution, as proposed by S.J.R. 75, 88th Legislature,

Regular Session, 2023, the revenue deposited to the credit of the

Texas water fund under Subsection (a) of this section shall be

maintained by the administrator of the fund in a separate account in

the fund and may not be transferred from the fund by the

administrator except as directed by the legislature pursuant to an

appropriation made in accordance with Section 6 of this article.

The administrator of the fund shall transfer the amount

appropriated by the legislature from the account in accordance with

the applicable allocations specified by Section 49-d-16, Article

III, of this constitution, as proposed by S.J.R. 75, 88th

Legislature, Regular Session, 2023.

SECTION 3. The following temporary provision is added to

the Texas Constitution:

TEMPORARY PROVISION.

(a)

This temporary provision applies

to the constitutional amendment proposed by the 89th Legislature,

Regular Session, 2025, to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived

from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water fund and to

provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.

(b)

Section 7-e, Article VIII, of this constitution takes

effect September 1, 2027.

(c) This temporary provision expires September 1, 2028.

SECTION 4. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be

submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 4, 2025.

The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the

proposition: "The constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of

the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas

water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that

revenue."

______________________________

______________________________

President of the Senate

Speaker of the House

I certify that H.J.R. No. 7 was passed by the House on April

29, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 138, Nays 6, 2 present, not

voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.J.R.

No. 7 on May 29, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 122, Nays 12, 2

present, not voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.J.R. No. 7 was passed by the Senate, with

amendments, on May 27, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays

0.

_______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

RECEIVED: _____________________

Date

_____________________

Secretary of State