In a vote of 143 to 3, the Texas House approved Senate Bill 7, the partner bill to a constitutional amendment planned to pump in a billion dollars a year for the next decade into water projects.
Lawmakers are racing against the clock for the final details, with only a week left in the regular legislative session. Key deadlines kick in throughout this next week, killing most ideas in the legislative process.
Most lawmakers agree that SB 7 is needed to pay for a new water supply, either building new reservoirs or buying water from other states and piping it throughout Texas.
“This truly is a historic piece of legislation,” said the House author, Rep. Cody Harris, on the floor Monday.
Lawmakers aim to turn down the temperature of regional water fights like the one between Northeast Texas and the DFW metro over the possible Marvin Nichols Reservoir. The planned reservoir would flood 66,000 acres in East Texas to create a man-made lake and pipe water into the growing Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.