AUSTIN-A full sweep of the Sulphur River Basin Authority's board of directors may not occur after a proposal to amend HB 2180 was introduced Wednesday during a meeting of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The original bill included the Texas Sunset Commission's recommendation to eliminate the terms of all SRBA board members appointed on or before Jan. 1, 2016, and not allow them to be reappointed. However, during Wednesday's public hearing, a recommendation was made to adjust the proposed legislation and grant Gov. Greg Abbott the power to reappoint all board members to their positions.
"Sweeping the board was my suggestion, and that's kind of where I wanted it to stay, and then local representation asked us to reconsider the substitute, and the governor's office also did and I'm OK with it," Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, the bill's sponsor, told the committee. "They felt like those people were competent and should be we didn't want to handcuff the governor."
Abbott appointed three new members to the board March 23, 2016-Mike Sandefur of Texarkana, Bret McCoy of Omaha, Texas, and Katie Stedman of Mount Pleasant, Texas. Sandefur resigned in January, and McCoy and Stedman's terms expire in Feb. 1, 2021.
McCoy is set to go before the Senate Committee on Nominations today. However, Stedman is not on the list of nominees due to a scheduling conflict.
Terms for board members Mike Russell of Clarksville, Texas, and Patricia Wommack of Lone Star, Texas, expired Feb. 1. Terms for board members Brad Drake of Paris, Texas, and Wally Kraft of Paris, expire Feb. 1, 2019.
SRBA's bylaws state a member will retain his or her seat until the governor appoints someone for that position.
Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, who is in his first term serving Bowie, Franklin, Lamar and Red River counties, said he supported the substitution to the bill for several reasons.
"The governor's office was encouraging the change, and I was asked about it, and I certainly agreed with the change," he said. "I don't think it's good policy for the Legislature to tell the governor who he can't appoint. I don't think it sets a very good precedent to tell the governor he can't appoint certain people."
VanDeaver also said he thinks there is some merit to the studies SRBA is conducting on sedimentation in Wright Patman Lake. He also asserts the bill commonly is regarded a "Marvin Nichols" bill, in reference to the proposed East Texas reservoir, a source of contention between landowners and area stakeholders.
"That's why Sunset is taking the drastic action they're taking," he said. "In some ways, I think SRBA has lost their way, and this will help them get on the right track."
SRBA was created in 1985 to conserve and develop natural resources within the river basin, which covers 11 counties. It came under scrutiny last year by the Sunset Commission, which determines the effectiveness and necessity of state agencies. The commission has the authority to abolish agencies, but House Bill 3123, passed in May 2015, excludes SRBA from being abolished.
The Sunset Report stated SRBA has not built the trust needed to effectively carry out its mission. Fred Milton, a Riverbend Water Resources District board member, told the committee he thought the report was spot-on.
"I feel it was focused in its context, and I believe it was specific in its recommendations, based on what it found," he said. "The result of the report certainly substantiates the authority's reputation for non-transparency, somewhat dysfunctional operation and some questionable meeting practices. I feel strongly the recommendations in HB 2180, the non-substitute bill, all those actions are reported accurately in whole in that bill."
Kraft also addressed the committee, stating he was for the bill as amended, and outlined the basin-wide studies SRBA had been conducting through an in-kind partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop water resources within the basin. He questioned a portion of the bill, which states that prior to voting on a proposed project needing a permit, the board will be required to get advice from the county judge of the region where the proposed project would be located.
"We weren't really quite sure why we need to advise the county judges just in the place where these projects will take place because it affects the entire Sulphur River Basin," Kraft said. "The Sulphur River Basin runs considerably farther than where this lake will be. We just didn't understand what the idea was behind that, that we would seek the advice of county judges on this situation."
SRBA consultant John Jarvis also spoke to the committee on the contention surrounding Marvin Nichols.
"There's been some people pop up that's against SRBA due to thinking there's been decisions made that haven't been made," he said. "All that SRBA has done up to this point, very unselfishly by all the board members is to try to gather the information, and studies continue."
The Sunset Review also noted that SRBA is solely funded by the Joint Commission for Project Development, an entity comprised of five water districts in the Dallas Metroplex-the cities of Dallas and Irving, North Texas Municipal Water District, Tarrant Regional and the Upper Trinity Water District-all seeking water for their projected population growth. JCPD has long thrown its support to the building of Marvin Nichols. As written, the bill does not require SRBA to seek additional funding.
HB 2180 also includes the governor's right to designate a member of the board as the presiding officer, requires board member training and adhesion to open meetings. It also stipulates public information laws, the development of a system to efficiently and promptly act on complaints and to periodically notify complainants of the status of the complaint until it is resolved.
The bill was left pending in committee.
SB 308, introduced by Sen. Taylor Nichols, contains wording identical to HB 2180, without the proposed change, and is expected to have a public hearing within a month.
Should the bills pass the House and Senate, the legislation would be enacted Sept. 1.
The bills can be viewed at www.capitol.state.tx.us.