Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-1 Page: 1 of 6
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OFFICE of the ATTORNEY GENERAL
GREG ABBOTT
December 17, 2002
The Honorable Gary L. Walker Opinion No. GA-0001
Chair, Committee on Land and
Resource Management Re: Legal effects of groundwater conservation
Texas House of Representatives district election held in Bosque, Comanche, and
P. O. Box 2910 Erath counties (RQ-0557-JC)
Austin, Texas 78768-2910
Dear Representative Walker:
You ask the status of a county that elects to join the Middle Trinity Groundwater
Conservation District, but does not vote to grant taxing authority to the district.' As we read the act
that created the district, that county is a part of the district. See Act of May 25, 2001, 77th Leg.,
R.S., ch. 1362, 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 3371. However, the question of whether the district has taxing
authority has not been resolved and cannot be resolved until the district as a whole has been polled.
In the event that a majority of the district's voters generally approve the levying of a maintenance
tax, then such a tax may be imposed upon the district as a whole. Moreover, whether certain
counties "have expressed their desire to never call an election," see Request letter, supra note 1, at
2, is irrelevant. The act creating the district requires that "[t]he temporary board of directors shall
call and hold an election in each county in the district to confirm establishment of the district and
to elect initial directors to represent the county." Act of May 25, 2001, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 1362,
10(a), 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 3371, 3372 (House Bill 3665) (emphasis added).
The district is a groundwater conservation district established pursuant to article XVI, section
59 of the Texas Constitution. Article XVI, section 59 declares the conservation and development
of Texas's natural resources, including its water, to be a public right and duty; authorizes the
creation of "such number of conservation and reclamation districts as may be determined to be
essential" to the fulfillment of that duty; and allows the legislature to authorize a maintenance tax
provided that "such proposition shall first be submitted to the qualified voters... and... adopted."
TEX. CONST. art. XVI, 59(a)-(c). The district was created by special law as a groundwater
conservation district subject to a confirmation election "in Bosque, Callahan, Coryell, Eastland,
Erath, Somervell, Comanche, and Hamilton counties" by House Bill 3665 of the Seventy-seventh
'See Letter from Honorable Gary L. Walker, Chair, Committee on Land and Resource Management, toHonorable John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General (May 23, 2002) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereinafter Request
Letter].An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer - Printed on Recycled Paper
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-1, text, December 17, 2002; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274896/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.