Dredging District Bill Goes to Full Senate for Vote on Tuesday

5/27/2025 – The Texas Senate will consider HB1532 on Tuesday 5/27/25. If approved and signed by the governor, Rep. Charles Cunningham’s bill would create a Lake Houston Dredging District. On Monday, the Senate Local Government Committee approved the bill 7-0 after Senator Brandon Creighton testified in favor of the bill. The Committee reported the bill favorably without any amendments.

The House previously approved the bill overwhelmingly on April 30th by a vote of 114 to 19 with two abstaining.

Third Time Around for Bill

This is the third time around for the dredging district bill. Former State Rep. Dan Huberty first introduced a variation on it in 2021. Then after Huberty retired, Rep. Charles Cunningham brought it back in 2023.

This year, however, Cunningham carefully crafted the language to eliminate objections raised in previous sessions over potential taxes and fees.

For an analysis of the bills contents, see this House report.

The District would establish a Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District that could sell bonds and receive state funding. However, it could not impose taxes or fees. It would operate only in Harris County and make money by selling the spoils from its operations for beneficial uses, such as raising home foundations, building roads, or constructing the Ike Dike.

One of the first orders of business would be conducting a funding study.

Supported by Community

The District, if approved, will lower flood risk in the Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita, Huffman, Crosby and the entire Lake Houston Areas. It will also increase the water supply in Lake Houston.

Dozens of Lake Houston Area residents wrote Senators on the local government committee as soon as the hearing schedule was announced over the holiday weekend.

Passage of the bill would help improve conveyance of the streams and channels flowing into the lake.

The Army Corps recommended maintenance dredging after it finished its Emergency West Fork Dredging Project. The reason: to help manage sediment that keeps moving downstream and settling out of suspension in the lake and its headwaters.

Dredging (along with upstream detention and more floodgates for the Lake Houston dam) was one of three main recommendations of the Lake Houston Area Task Force started by the late Humble ISD Superintendent Guy Sconzo.

Both Cunningham and District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger expressed quiet optimism for the bill’s prospects this year.

I’ll update you as soon as we know something. The Senate is scheduled to consider more than 300 bills on Tuesday. And HB1532 is one of the last on the agenda.

Posted by Bob Rehak on May 27, 2025

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