{"id":1439360,"date":"2025-09-04T03:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T08:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1439360"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:06:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T20:06:22","slug":"rep-harris-granted-committee-discussion-over-groundwater-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1439360","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Harris granted committee discussion over groundwater bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1439361\" src=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/2025-09-04_033055-198x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/2025-09-04_033055-198x200.jpg 198w, https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/2025-09-04_033055.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><strong>UPDATE: <\/strong> During Wednesday\u2019s special session house meeting, State Rep. Cody Harris, of Palestine, said he refuses to concur with the Texas Senate and is requested an appointment of conference committee. Harris\u2019 request was granted.<\/p>\n<p>AUSTIN \u2014 The Texas Senate passed House Bill 27 on Tuesday, allowing an East Texas groundwater study, but eliminating 16-month pause on drilling permits. On Aug. 25, the Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 27, written by State Rep. Cody Harris. HB 27 requires the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to conduct a study on the effects of drilling permits on the Neches and Trinity Valley Groundwater District.<\/p>\n<p>HB 27 also pushed for lawmakers to allow a 16-month pause on approving drilling permits while the TWDB conducted its study. The bill made its way to the Texas Senate and received a 26-1 vote in favor of its cause, but with a twist.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Texas Senate eliminated the option of putting a 16-month pause on the drilling permits, and now the Texas House would need to call for negotiations before the special session adjourns on Sept. 13. Senator Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) explained the thought process behind the change in HB 27.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe science we have today suggests these impacts could be substantial, but the science is just not sufficient to guide such important decisions,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n<p>Harris released a statement expressing his disappointment in the Senate\u2019s decision to change HB 27\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStripping the moratorium from HB 27 guts the intended purpose of the bill,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI will not lay down and accept this watered down change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Currently, 13 bills have been sent to Governor Greg Abbott\u2019s desk during the special session. If the session ends tonight without the Texas House and Senate agreeing on the same terms for the bill, then HB 27 would not pass at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATE: During Wednesday\u2019s special session house meeting, State Rep. Cody Harris, of Palestine, said he refuses to concur with the Texas Senate and is requested an appointment of conference committee. Harris\u2019 request was granted. AUSTIN \u2014 The Texas Senate passed House Bill 27 on Tuesday, allowing an East Texas groundwater study, but eliminating 16-month pause &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1439360\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rep. Harris granted committee discussion over groundwater bill<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1439480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/2025-09-04_033055-198x200.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1439360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 05:37:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/2025-09-04_033055-198x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1439360"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1439918,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439360\/revisions\/1439918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1439480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1439360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1439360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1439360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}