FILE | WCMESSENGER
House Bill 3154, a key piece of the legislative effort to form the Wise Regional Water District, failed 41-78 in the Texas House Thursday night — a major blow after a rollercoaster week for the companion bills aiming to secure a longterm water solution for Wise County.
The line of questioning before the HB 3154 vote, while sharply critical of the bill, took aim at Rep. Andy Hopper and his tact in the Texas House, delivering a painful death to the bill with a local scope. The WRWD remains alive through Sen. Tan Parker’s Senate Bill 1359, which passed through the upper chamber Wednesday.
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Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) carved away at language in the bill as the second reading deadline closed in, asking Hopper to acknowledge the authority for debt issuance authority, fees, eminent domain and it’s lack of listed caps and the lack of an election requirement.
“I have never filed a MUD bill, so this is my first time really looking at one,” Capriglione said, holding back a smile at the dig. “So does this mean that there’s potential for the government to take someone’s private property?”
Hopper said that the bill is modeled after the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, adding, “if you’re going to build pipelines to carry water, that’s going to have to occur on land. If you’re going to build a wastewater treatment plant, that’s going to have to exist on some land,”
Capriglione yielded to Rep. Richard Pena Raymond (D-Laredo) who approached the microphone with a cellphone at his ear.
“Mr. Hopper, I would like to congratulate you on your first bill. Eminent domain, no elections — it’s incredible,” Raymond said while pretending there was a voice on the other end of the line. “I’ve been authorized by the chairman of the Democratic party to offer three Democrats in exchange for you and two second-round picks, and a guaranteed payment we could negotiate behind closed doors. You’re exactly what we’re looking for in the Democratic party. We love you.”
Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso) asked Hopper about HB 3154’s placement on the general calendar.
“Mr. Hopper, this appears to be a local bill, in that it deals with Wise Regional Water District. Is that only within your district? I know you’re new here,” Moody said. “This is the general calendar. Are you aware of that? I don’t know if you’ve studied at all about how we do things in the House. Where do bills like this usually go?”
Hopper replied that it would go to local consent if it passed unanimously out of the committee.
“Do you think it would have helped you have unanimity if several members, including yourself, hadn’t scuttled the first two local calendars we had on this floor,” Moody said, referencing the freshman conservative House members with a growing foothold who have clashed with incumbents this session.
Hopper: “You know what, I believe in fighting for what I stand for. That’s why I’m here.”
Moody: “You are a member of the house and are entitled to do all things within your authority, and I never would tell you to do anything different. I’m just asking if you think it would have made a difference?”
Hopper: “I don’t know. We’re about to find out.”
Before the 41-78 vote, Rep. Caroline Harris Davila (R-Round Rock) said she has enjoyed talking to Hopper, as the two are situated near each other on the House floor.
“Welcome to the House,” she said.
A coalition of Wise County cities, county leaders and other entities are backing the WRWD as a tool to secure surface water allocations that may become available. Beyond the authority it would provide for those allocations, the regional approach also provides an improved economy of scale to compete for new water on the market and expanded bonding capacity for pipelines, plants and other expenditures to buy, bring and service out-of-county surface water in the rapidly growing county.
SB 1359 can reach the finish line this session. However, the vote split and retaliatory nature of the opposition indicated that it faces a steep battle if carried by Hopper in the current House climate.
Thursday’s setback came after a breakthrough via Zoom call this week.
After connecting over the weekend, developers and the Wise County Mayors Coalition Steering Committee (WCMCSC) agreed to a compromise on board composition — a sticking point that had left SB 1359 in limbo and absent from the Senate calendar last week.
After reaching the compromise, Sen. Parker (R-Flower Mound) submitted substitute language to reflect the change. It was passed out of the Texas Senate 28-3 Wednesday.
Peter Pincoffs of PMB Capital, the developer behind the Reunion development in Rhome’s ETJ, said last week that the development community had concerns about residents in unincorporated areas not having a voice on the board. He sought an even split between developer representatives and city representatives on the WRWD board of directors, with the county as a swing vote. He also felt that the WRWD would not be able to feasibly tackle the cost of infrastructure revenue from city water customers alone.
Based on the current composition, the two groups met in the middle.
The amended makeup includes a Rolling V Ranch Water Control and Improvement District (RVRWCID) representative, appointed by the RVRWCID No. 3 board of directors, and a New Fairview Municipal Utility District director, who must be a qualified voter living living in the district. And the substituted language states there will be now two directors appointed by Wise County Commissioners Court, instead of one.
The rest of the board is unaltered, with nine cities: Alvord, Aurora, Boyd, Bridgeport, Decatur, Newark, New Fairview, Paradise and Rhome each appointing a director. Both the Walnut Creek Special Utility District and West Wise Special Utility District will also be represented on the board with a director.
Mayors, county officials and possibly developers who were once opposed are planning to return to Austin next week to testify in support of the passage of SB 1359, Boyd Mayor Rodney Holmes said in a text message Thursday.
“[SB 1359] is our only hope,” Holmes said.
According to the Texas Legislative Council, once a bill has passed through committee and floor deliberations in the opposite chamber, it returns to the chamber where it originated. If no amendments were made, or if the originating chamber agrees to the changes made by the opposite chamber, the bill proceeds to final enrollment.
“Hopefully it gets called for the committee hearing soon, so we can testify in support of Senator Parker’s amended bill, and hopefully the House will vote on it and send it back to the Senate for any compromise, and hopefully, we’ll be good,” said New Fairview City Administrator John Cabrales. “We’re facing some resistance from MUD lawfirms. There’s quite a few MUD law firms out there. We’re still working through the resistance. At the end of the day, we’re hoping to prevail. And if we don’t, it’s not for lack of trying to do everything we can to get the bill across the goal line.”
What would a WRWD do
The WRWD has defined itself as non-taxing entity that would have the legal authority to plan, purchase, construct and operate facilities, plants and equipment to provide water and wastewater for municipal and other uses.
According to the bill, the WRWD would be governed by a board of directors. Directors may not be an elected official of any governmental entity that has the authority to appoint a member of the board. Directors would be appointed by Wise County Commissioners Court and the governing bodies of the participants and contract members.
The passage of a bill creating the district would allow the group of entities, which includes the cities of Alvord, Aurora, Boyd, Bridgeport, Decatur, New Fairview, Newark, Paradise and Rhome, as well as Wise County, to combine forces and negotiate for allocations on existing or future surface water sources, and tackle large water and wastewater infrastructure projects, to service the growing area.
The economy of scale from WRWD would provide a more competitive seat at the table for those water allocations, compared to just one city on their own. It would also provide a larger capacity to issue debt for capital improvements for the infrastructure needed to bring that water into service. Additionally, regional water districts can tap into Texas Water Development Board as a funding source for projects, like constructing a WRWD water treatment plant, to bring water into Wise County.
It’s modeled after the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, which was signed into law in 1989 to serve Denton County. Like its regional water district neighbor to the east, the proposed WRWD would be a non-taxing entity. It would cover the cost of debt issued for projects through revenue on water and wastewater services it would provide. Water and wastewater rates generally fund operations, and are typically increased to offset rising costs.
Where could new water come from
Two lakes that Wise County cities may look to purchase water allocations from in the future are Eagle Mountain Lake in Tarrant County, and Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County, which is expected to begin delivering water in 2026, with a pipeline planned down Farm Road 407 toward Wise County’s eastern border.
Eagle Mountain Lake is operated by Tarrant Regional Water District while Lake Ralph Hall is operated by Upper Trinity Regional Water District.
New Fairview City Administrator John Cabrales said there are multiple avenues that the WRWD might pursue to bring in water to Wise County. He added that a future WRWD could look tp incorporate allocations from multiple water sources at once.
Who pays
The cost of each potential pathway to more water would fall on the entities and users who use and benefit from the respective projects, said Cabrales, the point man of the WRWD effort. The cost of capital improvements would be paid off through revenue generated by wholesale water sales and/or wastewater customers.
Wise County’s water situation
A 2023 study found Wise County would need to find alternative water sources beyond groundwater to meet the demands of future growth.
The study, conducted by engineering firm Freese & Nichols through the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (UTGCD), found that Wise County would need to transition 1.64 million gallons per day (MGD) of current groundwater demand to other sources by 2030 to preserve the aquifer, with 16 MGD required by 2050 and 43.81 MGD per day in 2080. The study recommended a regional approach for realistic solutions.
Currently, the City of Decatur and City of Bridgeport have access to surface water in Lake Bridgeport. Decatur’s allocation is 4,000 acre feet of water per year from Lake Bridgeport, and it uses roughly half of that amount. South Wise cities, like Rhome, Boyd, New Fairview and Newark, are in a more time-sensitive bind, facing steep growth trajectories as area water providers tighten their belts due to the demand throughout their service areas.
How we got here
The regional approach to addressing water demands was hinted at in the water availability study and became a key talking point at the first Wise County Water Summit, organized by County Judge J.D. Clark, in November 2023. The summit brought stakeholders at the state, regional and local level to the Decatur Conference Center to discuss the current water situation and potential options.
As the water conversation came into focus, mayors and officials from rapidly expanding South Wise cities began sharing resources and solutions on their growth-induced problems, establishing interlocal agreements on law enforcement, 911 dispatch, municipal court services and now, the water situation. The group is called the Wise County Mayors Coalition (WCMC), and it later formed the Wise County Mayor’s Coalition Steering Committee (WCMCSC) to seek regional options that can provide reliable long-term solutions for the water and wastewater needs of the region.
The collaboration and discussions resulted in the effort to create the WRWD, which has gained in size and support, as the county and several additional cities joined in.
In January, 30 Wise County municipal and county government officials descended on Austin to lobby for the WRWD. Their hope was that WRWD legislation is passed as a local consent item.
This story will be updated.
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