Bill Text: TX HJR7 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: 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.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 35-15)

Status: (Passed) 2025-06-02 - Filed with the Secretary of State [HJR7 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HJR7-Enrolled.html

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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