Articles

Texas Voters Approve Water Funding by Overwhelming Majority

On November 6, 2013, Texas voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 6, a plan to authorize a $2 billion transfer from the state’s Rainy Day Fund (RDF) to finance the state water plan.   The statewide election results were 73% for Proposition 6 and 27% against, with Dallas County alone coming in at a substantial 81% for and 19% against the proposition.

This $2 billion will be used to offer low interest loans to local water districts to implement the initiatives set forth in the state water plan, some of which include conservation and reuse projects and new reservoirs to expand water supply. By March 2015, the state water board must adopt rules regarding how the funds will be prioritized and allocated.

This is the second time in two years Texas voters have said "yes" to fund water projects. In 2011, voters approved $6 billion in bonding authority for the state's water board to help fund water projects. 

Texas is projected to almost double in population by 2060, and a recent report from the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA), one of the state's most respected voices on tax and fiscal policy issues, states that the RDF will have substantial balances even if both the water and the transportation amendments pass.  This is largely attributable to significant levels of oil and gas production (and resulting severance taxes, the primary source of RDF funding).  TTARA has concluded that even if Texas voters approve the two amendments, "the Rainy Day Fund is on a path to set new records for deposits and balances, perhaps even reaching its constitutional cap."

TTARA's forecast is that with the water funding amendment authorizing the $2 billion transfer, the RDF will still have a balance after the transfer of $6.7 billion. 

However, there is no rest for the weary (or the civil engineer), as the saying goes. Now that the water proposition has passed, it is time to begin campaigning for the passage of the transportation amendment in 2014. 

If the transportation funding amendment passes in 2014, the year-end RDF balance would still be $8.2 billion, growing to $9.9 billion in 2015, $11.6 billion in 2017, and $17.3 billion by 2020. During this period, TTARA estimates that transfers to the Highway Fund would be $1.5 billion in 2014, growing to $1.9 billion in 2020.

Rachel Hayden, P.E.

PR Chair, ASCE Dallas Branch