By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor

Texas farmers and ranchers gathered around their computer screens to hear from Texas legislative leaders during Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Virtual Leadership Conference on Feb. 9.

“Due to the ongoing pandemic, we were unable to host the in-person event we typically hold at the beginning of each Texas legislative session,” TFB President Russell Boening said. “But that didn’t stop us from getting together and discussing issues our members feel are important during the 87th Texas Legislature.”

After a disappointing outcome last legislative session to reform state eminent domain law, the issue is once again a top TFB priority this session to protect private property owners, farmers and ranchers.

“One of the biggest obstacles to passing HB 991 in 2019 was the decision of House leadership to create a less-than-ideal situation to get a version of that bill passed out of the committee that would have truly benefited landowners,” Boening said.

But longtime eminent domain reform advocate and newly-elected chair of the Texas House Committee on Agriculture and Livestock Rep. DeWayne Burns said he is optimistic about achieving true progress this session.

“Speaker [Dade] Phelan was a joint author on the bill last session and has been supportive of our efforts over the last two sessions. We’ve been fighting this fight since he’s been in the House, so I’m optimistic when I think about that,” Burns said. “With the new speaker comes new chairmen, and the Land and Resource Management Committee has a new chair, Joe Deshotel, from Beaumont. And I have to think that our chances are good.”

Burns anticipates his new eminent domain bill, HB 901, will be sent to the Land and Resource Management Committee. If it’s not, Burns is committed to working with the chair of whichever committee is assigned the bill to explain the importance of eminent domain reform to landowners across the state.

Good-faith initial offers or “bona fide” offers and easement terms are the two key points Burns and TFB hope to achieve through eminent domain law reform.

TFB supports HB 901, because it has the language negotiated last session to provide meaningful eminent domain reform. The industry representatives who use eminent domain re-wrote those agreed to concepts and added some new concepts, and their language is in HB 902. Burns is working with stakeholders to reconcile the differences in the two bills.

“The message has not changed, and my message won’t change, and that is we need meaningful reform. I believe HB 901 has meaningful reform. Certainly, we can make additions from HB 902 and merge some of those concepts, but at its core, HB 901 is a bill that is fair to the critical infrastructure industry but also is meaningful. We’ll make some meaningful changes in how landowners are treated and how landowners are valued when they’re facing condemnation,” Burns said. “I would just encourage folks to communicate that we need to get this done. Urge your legislators and whomever that we need to get this done and that HB 901 seems to be the one that has the provisions that we prefer at this point. While HB 902 has some good ones, too, we want to stick with that framework in HB 901.”

Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, who co-authored legislation in 2019, was scheduled to speak during the conference, but was unable, because she was called to the Senate floor for a vote. Her general counsel and legislative director, Grant McLoughlin, stepped in to speak with the TFB audience.

“I think the senator very much would echo what Chairman Burns had said about wanting to build where we left off. We are very optimistic about meaningful reform this session,” McLoughlin said. “Like Chairman Burns, she has seen elements of the [coalition for critical infrastructure industry’s] proposal that could potentially be added to where negotiations left off, such as the ombudsman or educational and other licensing requirements to landmen. But she’s indicated that she wants to build off where those negotiations left off out of respect for all the parties that have been a part of these hard-fought negotiations, including the lieutenant governor himself.”

Another legislative issue that has drawn recent attention from landowners, farmers and ranchers across the Lone Star State is surface and groundwater rights.

Boening noted Sen. Charles Perry, chair of the Texas Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, has worked several legislative sessions to address some of the problems with challenging unconstitutional groundwater regulations under current law, particularly the attorney fees provision that is unfair to landowners.

This session, Perry filed SB 152 to help landowners protect their property rights. Perry said the bill is a cumulation of several years of work.

“This bill gives landowners an opportunity to petition for changes when groundwater conservation districts are looking at rural changes rather than going directly to litigation,” he said. “That’s a better process when you can open up communication lines. Most people in agriculture and rural communities are communicators. They just want to have their voice heard.”

Rural broadband access is another area in which TFB hopes to make legislative progress this year, Boening added.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought heightened awareness to what rural residents already knew: rural Texas lags far behind urban areas in terms of broadband access.

Remote learning, telehealth services and working from home are all far more difficult to access for rural residents and those in underserved areas where broadband infrastructure is insufficient or non-existent.

That experience showed connectivity for rural Texans is more important than ever, said Rep. Mary Gonzalez.

“This has been an issue for a long time, and sadly, it took a global pandemic for there to finally be political will to move it. But I’m grateful there’s a bipartisan effort. Everyone understands how serious this is and that we’ve got to get it done,” she said. “What we have to make sure doesn’t happen is that we run out of time. Things are moving a little slower than usual this session, but I feel really confident because the governor, the speaker and the lieutenant governor have all spoken about it.”

Sourcing funding and assigning authority over the issue are key to increasing rural broadband access through legislation, Rep. Andrew Murr noted.

“As a person who doesn’t have broadband service at my own home, I am an advocate to making sure we bring success to the table for all Texans. Your two primary issues here are funding—how do we pay for it—and authority. The permission and authority to using existing infrastructure and how do we get there versus building new infrastructure, whether you’re talking about existing co-op lines or private companies,” Murr said. “What rights do we need to consider?

Because sometimes those have already been negotiated. That’s part of our policy discussion. But cost is number one. If you can’t pay for it, it doesn’t matter where you’re going to put it.”

TFB is monitoring four bills relating to rural connectivity: SB 506, SB 154, HB 425 and HB 1511.

Other priority issues TFB will be advocating for this legislative session include feral hog control, farm animal liability, land use regulation, taxes, transportation, animal care, truth-in-labeling of food products and sunset legislation.

The Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Animal Health Commission, Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Prescribed Burning Board, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners are up for review this legislative session by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission. These agencies and departments play a vital role in regulating agricultural products and services for Texans, farmers and ranchers.