H.B. No. 3141 amends the Water Code by adding Section 5.137, which mandates the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to update its rules regarding rainfall intensity, duration, and frequency data. The bill specifies that the TCEQ must incorporate the latest available data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or a comparable source at least once every five years. Additionally, the commission is required to update its rules with each new volume of the Precipitation-Frequency Atlas of the United States published by NOAA.

Furthermore, during each rulemaking process, the TCEQ must consider the costs avoided by the state due to the updates, the variance between existing and new data, and the accuracy of the new data compared to the existing data. The first updated rules are to be adopted by January 1, 2026, and the act will take effect on September 1, 2025.

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