State Rep. Carrie Isaac
With the 89th legislation in full swing, Hays County’s two representatives in the Texas House – Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, and Carrie Issac, R-Wimberley – have authored 34 bills between them. Isaac represents House District 73, which incorporates Comal County and the northern portion of Hays County, including the cities of Wimberley, Dripping Springs and Woodcreek. Below is an overview of some of the bills that Isaac is prioritizing this session.
HB 2812
Rep. Carrie Isaac said she is prioritizing legislation regulating water. The first is HB2812, which would exempt public water supply wells from regulation, permitting or metering by the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District.
Isaac said she is displeased with the district, citing its management strategies, lawsuits that have been filed against it and its solutions for handling the current drought.
“Groundwater conservation districts are created to manage groundwater not cut off access to groundwater,” Isaac said. “If the water providers would obey what the groundwater district is telling them to do, our faucets would be dry right now, and that’s not managing; that’s mismanagement.”
Specifically, Isaac said a suit brought by Aqua Texas, one of the district’s water providers, for unequal treatment for fines after they were found to have pumped almost twice the amount of water it was allowed in 2022.
“These water producers – they’re meeting customers’ demand, but they’re getting punished for serving the community,” Isaac said. “Instead of investing their money in education, conservation and solutions, they are spending their money on lawyers and lawsuits… The way they’re going about it is not a solution.”
Ideally, Isaac said she would like to see a different water conservation district oversee the area.
HB 2269
Also with the aim of conserving water, 2269 would stop property owners’ associations from including or enforcing provisions that require a property owner to install and maintain living grass or turf. Isaac said this bill would help conserve water because a major amount of residential water goes toward lawn maintenance.
“It’s unbelievable that some HOAs will actually fine people in the neighborhood because they have brown grass during a drought,” Isaac said.
HB 2268
This bill would take away the authority of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality to create certain special water districts for housing developments.
“A lot of times you’ll have a developer come in, and they’ll want a special utility district that has taxing authority. And, right now, they can just go to TCEQ and get this district,” Isaac said. “I want them to have to come to the Legislature. We can put parameters in there. We can tell them, you need to get your water from somewhere else, besides groundwater.”
HB 2887
The first of three bills that Isaac has labeled a part of her “Liberty Package,” HB2887 would determine that certain international organizations like The World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum have no jurisdiction in the state of Texas.
“We’ve got these organizations out there… — one of them being the World Health Organization — they aren’t making laws, but they’re telling us what to do with energy and our health,” Isaac said. “My bill [is] saying you can’t tell Texans what to do. You have no authority over our policy and policy makers and law here in Texas; we will not abide by your law, whatever you’re saying.”
HB 2888
The second bill in the liberty package, 2888, involves auto insurance. It would not allow someone without a driver’s license or insurance to sue another driver or that driver’s insurance company. Isaac said this bill was inspired by a constituent in this situation.
“You don’t have insurance, and yet you’re going to sue this person that you got in this accident with?” Isaac said. “So [this bill] would prevent something like that from happening.”
HB 2889
The last bill of her liberty package, 2889, would require any public entity that budgets for the promotion of a bond to also fund the taxpayers’ position.
“Currently, local governments can use public funds to promote bond measures, often without providing the same resources to those who are opposing viewpoints,” Isaac said. “So this bill provides equal access to public funds when used for bond related communications, allowing voters to hear both sides.”
In addition, Isaac expressed her support of Senate Bill 16, which would require a person to submit proof of citizenship to register to vote and create criminal offenses for violation of the law. She also showed support for Senate Bill 7, which relates to funding and oversight on water infrastructure, and House Bill 3637, which would exempt property owners from being taxed for adding rainwater collection systems or other water conservation systems on their property valuation.
A full list of bills authored by Isaac can be found on each of their profiles at house.texas.gov.
