Senate committee advances bill to create Fort Bend water control and improvement district

The Senate Committee on Administration voted unanimously to report House Bill 5655 favorably to the full Senate, advancing a proposal to create a water control and improvement district in Fort Bend County to provide drainage improvements.

Senator Kolkhorst, the senator explaining the bill to the committee, said, "HB 5,655 proposes the creation of a water control and improvement district in Fort Bend County to provide drainage improvements." She told members the district would encompass approximately 912 acres that are not located within a municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction or corporate limits and that all the property proposed for the district is owned and will be developed by TPHTL Hatcher, LLC.

The committee discussed no amendments and heard no public testimony before moving the measure. Senator Hinojosa moved that HB 5,655 be reported favorably to the full Senate with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed; the clerk then recorded six ayes and zero nays. The committee also recommended that the bill be placed on the local and uncontested calendar for the May 28, 2025 calendar.

Supporters framed the bill as a localized tool to finance and carry out drainage improvements similar in form to municipal utility district legislation but using the statutory template for water control and improvement districts. No public witnesses spoke for or against the bill during the committee hearing, and members posed no substantive questions during the committee explanation.

The committee action merely advances the bill to the full Senate; the full Senate must consider the bill and any further amendments. If the Senate adopts the committee recommendation, the measure would next appear on the local and uncontested calendar scheduled for May 28, 2025.