April, 2009
BETTER LOOK NOW, BECAUSE THE STATE LEGISLATURE IS IN SESSION
We are tracking all sorts of different types of legislation this session. Our list of topics are:
Business Owners
Construction (Commercial and Residential)
Development and Planning
Eminent Domain
Environmental
Foreclosures
Franchise Tax
Groundwater Conservation Districts
Injection Wells
Landlord/Tenant
Lending, Mortgages, and Mortgage Brokers
Licensing-Landmen and Geoscience Professionals
Oil and Gas
Water
and the ever-popular ’ÄúLegislation Interesting for All the Wrong Reasons’Äù, which is my way of saying ’Äúwhat could they possibly be thinking??’Äù Be sure to take this category as strictly opinion intended only for the sake of humor.
So click on over to the 2009 Legislation Tracking Center and see what may be in store for you this session. Check this page early and often because we update it regularly. As non-listed bills in these categories pass this session, or get close to passing, we’Äôll add them. And we’Äôll let you know when you can administer last rites to these bills as well.
Water supply is a hot topic in the Metroplex right now. Our surface water suppliers are suing Oklahoma to obtain water from Oklahoma-and pipeline it to D/FW. Meanwhile, our groundwater is under assault from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) because it seems to be disappearing, depending on who you listen to.
In 2007 the TCEQ completed two different studies of the Trinity aquifer and concluded that the D/FW area, from the Oklahoma border to as far South as Waco, qualified as a ’ÄúPriority Groundwater Management Area.’Äù Now, this was news to many people because so much of the Metroplex is supplied by surface water (reservoirs). But because of this designation, the area must now create ’ÄúGroundwater Conservation Districts’Äù (GCDs).
What this means is that area groundwater will go from a completely unregulated resource (anybody could drill a water well anywhere, anytime) to a system where groundwater wells are regulated, spaced, restricted, sometimes prohibited, with water production volume both regulated/restricted and taxed. Some of these GCDs will be able to tax everyone in the area based on (your) property value, whether or not (you) produce any groundwater. Not exactly Christmas come early. The bills to create these GCDs are in the legislature, and they are on our tracking page. If you don’Äôt know about these, you need to learn. I’Äôll have more information on these later this year. If you have questions in the meantime, call or Email me.
This is our third year of sponsoring the Texas Irish Cycling Team. My wife Vera and I get to ride and enjoy the camaraderie of a good bunch of people, many of whom are in the real estate business, which means they have more time than usual this year to train. The Texas Irish’Äôs premier event is the MS 150, which raises money to help people living with multiple sclerosis-the number one disabler of adults. Donations are administered by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, one of the most respected charitable organizations around.
We have pictures and the storyline of the 2008 MS 150 on our website. Start with the 2008 MS 150 Day 1 page and you can get to Page 2 from there.
So long about April 14, 2009, the Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee was having a hearing on some of the bills before that committee. Clay Laird, of Hamilton, Texas, showed up to testify in support of Senate Bill 358. This bill would require local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws. At the end of his testimony he said something to the effect that any senator who didn’Äôt vote for this bill would ’Äúhear from him.’Äù
Now, I’Äôm thinking saying something like that to any committee would be unwise, but saying it to ’Äúhomeland security’Äù? Well, there’Äôs an extra rush of adrenaline for you. Senator Carona (R-Dallas, Chair of the committee) took the bull by the horns and asked ’Äúwhere?’Äù Laird responded ’Äúat your homes.’Äù Since the road had now been chosen Carona said that sounded like a threat on the committee. The Texas Senate Homeland Security committee. Undeterred, Laird responded ’Äúit’Äôs not a threat, it is a promise written in blood.’Äù Red Bull, anyone? And with that said, Carona had Laird escorted from the committee room.
As the next witness tried to gain her composure, Carona quipped about the Laird incident ’Äúall in a day’Äôs work around here.’Äù Indeed. And it makes you wonder how many state troopers have Laird’Äôs driver’Äôs license tagged for special treatment should he run afoul of our state’Äôs transportation or homeland security rules for the next, oh, 20 or so years.
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