2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB4370

HB4370 expressly adds geothermal water conveyance systems and facilities to the authorized work of several types of local districts.

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Official caption: Relating to the projects undertaken by a public improvement district, municipal management district, water control and improvement district, fresh water supply district, or municipal utility district.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Metcalf, Bell, Cecil, Cortez, Zwiener, Rosenthal. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

HB4370 expressly adds geothermal water conveyance systems and facilities to the authorized work of several types of local districts.
Existing financing safeguards still matter.

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What does it do?

HB4370 expressly adds geothermal water conveyance systems and facilities to the authorized work of several types of local districts. It gives local governments more project and financing options; it does not order every district to build a system or appropriate state construction money. The governor signed it June 20, 2025, and it took effect September 1, 2025.

Public improvement districts: geothermal water conveyance facilities join the authorized water-related improvements, including expenses for their operation and maintenance. The law also broadens who may benefit from improvements whose costs are paid or reimbursed under the existing financing section: entities regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas are added. That change is not limited in its wording to a particular geothermal company.
Municipal management districts: geothermal water conveyance facilities become expressly eligible improvement projects and services, including construction, operation and maintenance. When district work requires moving or altering listed facilities, the district must pay the relocation costs and owners’ damages; geothermal water conveyance facilities are now expressly included in that list.
Water control and improvement districts: the natural-resource powers of districts organized under Article XVI, Section 59 of the Texas Constitution expressly include geothermal water conveyance systems. The construction-powers section likewise adds systems necessary for conserving natural resources.
Fresh water supply districts: districts may acquire, build, own, operate, repair, improve and extend these systems within the district. They may issue bonds backed by property taxes, revenues, or both for that purpose.
Municipal utility districts: the natural-resource purpose and the list of facilities that district bonds may finance expressly include geothermal water conveyance systems.

Existing financing safeguards still matter. Public improvement district assessments are apportioned according to special benefits to property under Local Government Code Section 372.015. Fresh water supply district bonds under the expanded Section 53.182 remain subject to the election requirement in Water Code Section 53.183. For municipal utility districts, Section 54.505 generally requires a vote for bonds backed wholly or partly by property taxes, except refunding bonds, but allows revenue-only bonds without an election. HB4370 is not a blanket exemption from voter approval.

What changed along the way?

The official text index lists introduced, House committee, engrossed, Senate committee and enrolled versions. The House committee substitute made the material changes; the later operative texts match it. The amendment index lists no amendments, consistent with the history. These were committee-substitute changes, not floor amendments.

Compared with the introduced bill, the House substitute removed proposed express references to rights-of-way and easements from the public improvement district property-acquisition provision. It retained the existing real-property wording; that omission does not by itself establish a new ban on easements.

The substitute also removed a proposed separate election before a fresh water supply district could exercise the new geothermal power. Instead, it put the project power in Section 53.123 and the bond authority in Section 53.182(d). The existing bond-election provision was not repealed. The substitute added express construction authority in Section 51.125 for water control and improvement districts, moved and clarified the geothermal reference in the management-district relocation provision, and reordered the water-district sections. The final act retains those changes and the September 1 effective date.

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Local districts, participating property owners and entities providing these facilities gain clearer authority to undertake and finance qualifying projects. Owners whose facilities must be relocated by a management district have express coverage in the district-paid relocation provision. Actual benefits depend on the project selected, its performance and its financing; the act does not promise a particular energy saving or household bill reduction.

Property owners and users may bear assessments, property taxes, service charges or other financing costs where authorized. The district undertaking construction, operation, maintenance or relocation must fund those obligations. Existing local-government financing procedures continue to apply; the act does not prescribe one statewide price or tax rate.

The latest listed Legislative Budget Board fiscal note, on the engrossed bill, anticipated no state fiscal implication and no significant local-government fiscal implication. The introduced and House committee notes reached the same overall conclusions. These are estimates of the bill’s fiscal effect, not a finding that each optional project is free or that its debt has no cost.

Review boundary: This explains the enacted district powers, committee changes and relevant statutory financing limits. It is not a feasibility study, a description of any particular geothermal technology, or a legal opinion approving a specific district’s permits, assessments or bond issue. District-specific laws and financing arrangements can affect implementation.

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.