Updates for Environmental Commission focus on three bills

The Environmental Commission received a legislative update at its meeting Wednesday evening. The update focused primarily on legislation related to the Watershed Protection Department. According to Chuck Lesniak, the department’s environmental officer, Watershed Protection is tracking approximately 115 bills at the Texas State Legislature, with about a dozen of those bills being looked at with a closer eye. “We keep a top three list (and) we share them with our government relations office and our lobby team to help us track (of them),” explained Lesniak. The top three bills of concern – while the list changes on a weekly basis, he said – are House Bill 2851, HB 898, and HB 1135/Senate Bill 1385. SB 1385, which requires that more than 55 percent of a property remain undeveloped, is the only bill of the three to have a Senate companion. The regular session ends May 29.