News from the Texas Legislature
                                TSCRA Cattle Theft Bill
                                Budget
                Bill Action
                TSCRA Works To Plug Inactive Oil and Gas Wells
                TSCRA Continues to Call for Death Tax Reform
                Clean Water Restoration Act Bad for Landowners
                USDA Extends Certain Conservation Resrevation Program Contracts

            

News from the Texas Legislature

TSCRA Cattle Theft Bill

The TSCRA cattle theft bill is moving quickly through the State Legislature. SB 1163, introduced by Senator Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), passed the Senate and was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. The committee took up the bill this week. TSCRA Special Ranger Scott Williamson traveled to Austin to testify before the committee. SB 1163 is expected to be voted out of the House committee in the coming days. Once it is out of committee, it will proceed to the House floor. If it passes the House, it will then go to the Governor to be signed into law or vetoed.

Budget

The House and Senate have each appointed five conferees to work out the differences between the two versions of the budget.

Currently TSCRA is working to include maximum funding for feral swine abatement, fever tick control and wildfire control. TSCRA is also working to secure additional funding for critical programs administered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Furthermore, TSCRA is working to keep first-point testing fees for brucellosis at the current rate.

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Bill action

SB 1023, introduced by Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan), relates to eminent domain authority. The bill would require an entity that exercises the power of eminent domain to obtain a property interest that is less than fee simple title to use the means that is the least intrusive for the property owner for achieving the purpose for which the interest is obtained. Additionally, the bill would require the condemner to prove the necessity and minimal intrusiveness of the exercise of eminent domain, and if the condemning entity fails to prove any of the required facts, the court would be required to deny the condemnation and award to the property owner the owner's court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees incurred during the condemnation process. SB 1023 was taken up in the Senate State Affairs Committee. This bill is expected to be added to SB 18, the omnibus eminent domain bill. TSCRA submitted support for the record.

SB 2534, introduced by Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio), would create a task force on economic development and endangered species and require that the Comptroller's Office provide administrative support. The Texas A&M University System would also be required to assist in the analysis of any biological and economic impacts. SB 2534 was taken up in the Senate Natural Resources Committee. This important bill advances the work of the recovery credit system at Fort Hood. TSCRA submitted support for the record.

HB 4805, introduced by former Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland), relates to the creation of the West Texas Water Supply District. HB 4805 was taken up in the House Natural Resources Committee. This bill would create a district that would have numerous powers including eminent domain, taxing and bonding authority for Midland County and a surrounding 130 mile radius. Amendments have been offered to make the bill more acceptable to property owners; however, TSCRA members in this area are still opposed to the bill. The bill was left pending in committee. TSCRA submitted opposition for the record.

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TSCRA Works to Plug Inactive Oil and Gas Wells

TSCRA members passed policy in March 2009 that calls for this more aggressive approach to plugging inactive oil and gas wells. 

Inactive oil and gas wells are causing major problems for Texas landowners. The wells need to be plugged to prevent further damage to land and water quality. In light of this problem, TSCRA worked closely with Representative Dan Gattis (R-Georgetown) and Representative Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) to offer an amendment to HB 2259, a bill that attempts to strengthen financial bonding requirements for oil and gas wells. The amendment was needed to ensure that over 110,000 inactive wells are plugged. 

The amendment offered would have taken away the incentive to let inactive wells languish and move down the chain to operators who cannot afford to plug the wells. The amendment would have required every operator to make sure a bond, letter of credit or cash is on hand at all times with the Railroad Commission to cover the cost of plugging each individual well. Current law requires a blanket bond across an operator's inventory of wells. As a fairness mechanism, it would have also provided that each operator is only responsible for their proportionate share of the cost of plugging the well, so that a single operator does not have to bear the entire cost of plugging.

Although the amendment failed, TSCRA was able to lay ground work for a more aggressive approach to well plugging in future policy.

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TSCRA Continues to Call for Death Tax Reform

U.S. House and Senate conferees this week did not have family farms and ranches in mind when they stripped an important provision from the FY2010 Budget Resolution. The provision--sponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) passed as an amendment during Senate consideration of the budget resolution, and was an historic vote calling attention to the onerous estate tax. 

While the amendment provided for further estate tax reform within the budget, it did not have the force of law. TSCRA was pleased with the support of the many Senators--including 10 Democrats--who voted for the Lincoln/Kyl amendment, but is disappointed that the amendment did not survive in the final budget resolution.

The Lincoln-Kyl budget amendment would have raised the death tax exemption to $5 million per individual and $10 million per couple, indexed for inflation, at a reduced rate of 35 percent. Instead, under the Budget conference report, the tax will be frozen at its current levels ($3.5 million exemption at a 45 percent rate) through 2010, and allowed to revert back to its staggering pre-2001 levels (55 percent of estates worth more than $1 million) in 2011, unless Congress takes further action.   

TSCRA will continue working for a full repeal of the Death Tax.

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Clean Water Restoration Act Bad for Landowners

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) plans to hold a mark-up of S. 787-the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009-next week. If passed, this bill could take away landowners' rights to manage the water on private property. 

Currently, waters under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act are defined as "navigable waters of the U.S."  The Clean Water Restoration Act would remove the word "navigable" from the definition which would give the federal government, for the first time, the power to regulate all waters within a state including: small and intermittent streams, mudflats, sloughs, mud holes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural and manmade ponds including stockponds, groundwater, ditches, pipes, streets, gutters, ephemeral drainages, wet farmland, drain tiles and more.

This bill would take authority away from state governments and private property owners. 

TSCRA is working to stop this mark-up, but should it pass, TSCRA will strongly urge the Senate to oppose the bill.

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USDA Extends Certain Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Contracts

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) will offer certain producers the opportunity to modify and extend their Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts that are scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, 2009.

USDA can only extend approximately 1.5 million acres out of a total 3.9 million acres expiring this year. This extension will ensure that FSA meets the statutory CRP acreage limitation of 32 million acres established in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.

CRP is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners. CRP protects millions of acres of American topsoil from erosion and is designed to safeguard the Nation's natural resources. Participants receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland.

A general CRP signup is not scheduled during fiscal year 2009. However, producers may continue to enroll relatively small, highly-desirable acreages, including land that is not extended, into Continuous CRP. Continuous CRP includes such practices as filter strips and riparian buffers.

FSA will notify participants by letter beginning May 6, 2009. The sign-up for this voluntary extension will begin on May 18 and run through June 30, 2009. Farmers and ranchers may apply for this extension at their FSA county office. FSA administers CRP on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

CRP contracts with the highest environmental benefit or with the highest potential for soil erosion will be selected. CRP contracts cannot exceed 15 years in the aggregate and chosen CRP contract holders will generally be offered a three to five year extension.

Producers electing to extend their contract period will receive their current contract rental rate. All or a portion of the acreage under contract may be included in an extension, but no new acreage may be added.

Through CRP, FSA enters into long term (10-15 year) contracts with agricultural producers to protect highly erodible and other environmentally-sensitive land. Participants convert enrolled land to grass, trees, wildlife habitats and other conservation uses. The program has reduced soil erosion by over 400 million tons, protected over 2 million acres of wetlands and resulted in buffers established on over 100,000 miles of streams and rivers.

For more information about CRP and other FSA programs, please visit your county FSA office or http://www.fsa.usda.gov.

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