TX HB4530

Expands the Texas Water Trust to hold water rights dedicated to both "conservation needs" and environmental needs, adding conservation as an explicit purpose alongside existing environmental purposes like instream flows, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and bay and estuary inflows

Clarifies that the Parks and Wildlife Department's authority to encourage, facilitate, and manage water rights in the Texas Water Trust applies specifically to "surface water" rights

Creates a new separate approval process for groundwater rights placed in the Texas Water Trust, requiring review and approval by the Texas Water Development Board rather than the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Requires the Texas Water Development Board to notify any groundwater conservation district or authority with regulatory authority over the aquifer when groundwater rights are dedicated to the trust

Takes effect September 1, 2025; passed the House 109-27, concurred with Senate amendments 90-42, and passed the Senate unanimously 31-0