Urgent
We will need to do everything we can to stop this Bill from Passing! (HB2525) & companion (SB1892). This is bad legislation, built on a false premise that will harm our water user constituents!

Good Day to Everyone,

My name is Jerry Homan, I would encourage everyone to read HB 2525, the creation of the Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District, authored by State Representative Huberty. I have read HB 2525, including the (Analysis reports) and I have determined that I cannot and will not support this bill as is. My intent is to bring this Bill to your attention, sounding the alarm with the hope of motivating the masses to oppose the current Bill. This Bill goes against my conservative principals. The creation of this district unnecessarily expands government. The authority to full fill the stated purpose of this bill is already in place by other entities. The funding for this Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District is very vague and is very concerning for me and for my constituents, water users receiving water from the City of Houston and/or the regional water authorities. When water users understand that they will be paying for the Drainage of Kingwood and Atascocita as part of their water usage fees to the water authorities, they will be rightfully upset and lose confidence in the original intent of the ground water reduction plans. This is a slippery slope and will harm trust and the continued efforts to convert from ground water to surface water. The Board of directors of this new Drainage district will be appointed by the City of Houston and the Harris County Commissioners Court (Not Elected by the Citizens) All revenue bonds sold will not be subject to a public vote. Only the North Harris County Regional Water Authority has opposed this Bill thus far? I currently have every intention of testifying against this Bill in the Senate committee hearing coming up in the next few weeks. This Bill has passed the House. Our next best opportunity to change and or kill this Bill will be in the Senate, We believe HB2525 & SB1892 will go to the Local Government Committee, chaired by Paul Bettencourt. I would suggest that everyone educate themselves on this issue and be prepared to write letters and testify if needed. Should you have questions or need additional information please feel free to contact the WaterUsersCoalition.org.

Below is additional information.
To view the HB2525 Bill Analysis click here.

This bill passed the House last week and will arrives in the Senate this week. Here’s the video from last week where the bill passed to 3rd reading. It’s only about 20 seconds long, but Hubert says, “we’re not charging usage fees to all the water people in the district, merely what we’re doing is creating a mechanism to do that.”  
https://www.youtube.com/embed/rH0-HCNZM_M?start=27548&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autoplay=1

Write to:
Paul Bettencourt, Chairman of the local government committee, (HB2525) & (SB1892)

• Unnecessarily expands government
• False premise, dredging Lake Houston will not improve drainage
• Taxation without representation, appointed directors with the authority to issue revenue bonds without public approval
• Water users with their own drainage issues will be paying for Kingwood and Atascocita’s drainage problems
• Water users have already paid over 400 million dollars for the Luce bayou inter basin transfer of  water from the Trinity river to Lake Houston
• Mixing The Ground Water Reduction Plan (Conversion to Surface water) Paid for by Water Users, and this bill (HB2525) & (SB1892) with it’s Vague “Trojan Horse” funding mechanism  geared towards the Water Users wallet is just wrong and demoralizing to the good people who have paid billions converting to Surface Water.  

Link to the Texas Senate,
https://senate.texas.gov/cmte.php?c=556