# Clock And Release Verification

Date: 2026-06-10
Status: internal verification note, not legal advice. All items below were checked against live official or primary sources on 2026-06-10.

## Bottom Line

Four open questions from the June 6 meeting and the command center now have verified answers:

1. The "30-day review clock" is real: the commission determines administrative completeness within 30 calendar days of file stamp, and deficiency cures are usually ordered within about 30 days of the ALJ's order.
2. There is **no** 180-day statutory deadline for the PUC to decide a water CCN application. Texas Water Code 13.246 contains no decision deadline. The "180 days" remembered from the meeting is almost certainly the STM approval-to-proceed expiry in 16 TAC 24.239(o), which belongs to the sale path, not the CCN path.
3. The 50-acre expedited release route is confirmed as written law that applies in McLennan County: Texas Water Code 13.254(a-1). The 25-acre streamlined route, 13.2541, is confirmed unavailable here because McLennan does not meet its county-population criteria.
4. SB 2440 (2023) made groundwater availability certification mandatory for plat applications where groundwater is the supply source, effective January 1, 2024, with TCEQ rules at 30 TAC Chapter 230 adopted November 20, 2024. This is a platting-lane requirement that affects phase one and any individual-wells path.

## 1. CCN Clocks (Verified)

- 30-day administrative completeness determination from file stamp: confirmed in current Chapter 24 materials and the PUC CCN form instructions.
- Deficient application: applicant ordered to cure "usually 30 days from ALJ's order" (current form instruction V.i).
- Sufficient application: ALJ orders applicant to give notice using Commission Staff's prepared notice (form instruction V.ii).
- Notice/hearing: hearing requests go to SOAH; landowners with qualifying 25+ acre tracts may opt out during the notice period and the applicant must amend mapping accordingly (form instruction VI; TWC 13.246(h) confirms the 25-acre opt-out is effective without further hearing).
- After notice: procedural schedule, RFIs, opt-outs, then written consent to final maps/certificates/tariff, Staff final recommendation, ALJ final order (form instructions VII-VIII).
- **No statutory issuance deadline anywhere in TWC 13.246.** The post-notice schedule is set case by case. This is why docket behavior, not statute, controls the real timeline.

Practical meaning for the 12-month goal: the only fixed government clocks are the 30-day completeness review, the 30-day notice/intervention window, and notice-proof deadlines. Everything else is packet quality and PUC Staff throughput. A clean, pre-consented, no-deficiency packet is the only lever that compresses the schedule.

## 2. Current Form (Verified)

- `CCN_Form_PFA.pdf` on the PUC site is the December 2025 revision (31 pages), re-posted January 2026 (PDF metadata: created 2026-01-14, modified 2026-01-30).
- The attachment list matches the repo's `2026-06-06-tomorrow-filing-checklist.md` categories. No checklist rebuild is needed.
- Form Part A confirms the applicant must answer TCEQ Regulatory Assessment Fee status and Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) status under TWC 13.1396(b)(1). Both belong on the packet build list.
- FAQ confirms: an IOU **or a WSC** must use this form to obtain or amend a CCN before providing retail water service in the requested area.

## 3. Expedited Release (Verified Statute Text)

- **TWC 13.254(a-1)**: the owner of a tract of at least **50 acres** that is **not in a platted subdivision actually receiving water or sewer service** may petition for expedited release from a CCN. The commission **shall grant** the petition within **60 calendar days** of determining it administratively complete. The (a-2) exclusion only bars petitions inside municipalities over 500,000 population, which does not apply here (the tract is unincorporated; Waco is far below 500,000).
- Older subsections (a-5)/(a-6) are marked expired in current statute text; the operative expedited-release mechanism is (a-1).
- **TWC 13.2541** (25-acre streamlined expedited release) is limited to counties of 1.2 million+, counties adjacent to those, and one narrow population band. McLennan County does not qualify. This confirms the command-center correction.
- Compensation: the released-from utility is owed just and adequate compensation determined through an appraisal process (13.254(d)-(g-1) and 13.2541 equivalents). Because Waco has **no facilities and no service** at the tract, the compensable value should be near zero, but counsel must confirm.
- Two caveats counsel must clear before relying on this route:
  1. Whether the existing Heritage PWS service on the tract affects the "actually receiving water or sewer service" element. The strongest reading is that the phrase targets service from the certificate holder (Waco serves nothing there), but this is exactly the kind of point PUC Staff or Waco could litigate.
  2. Release removes Waco's certificate from the released land but does **not** grant Heritage retail authority. The released area becomes uncertificated; the Heritage WSC still needs its own CCN (or a counsel-confirmed exception) to lawfully bill retail service. Release is therefore a **lever and BATNA against Waco silence**, to be paired with the Heritage CCN filing, not a substitute for it.

Strategic meaning: the Waco ask can now be framed with a real alternative behind it. If Waco will not sign consent/no-protest/dual-certification on the narrow corridor, Heritage can petition for 50-acre expedited release on a 60-day statutory clock over land where Waco has no pipes, no customers, and minimal compensable value. That converts "Waco silent delay" (the simulation's #1 blocker) from a dead end into a fork with a dated exit.

## 4. SB 2440 Groundwater Certification (Verified)

- SB 2440 (88th Legislature, 2023) amended Local Government Code 212.0101(a) and 232.0032(a): municipalities and counties **must** require certification of groundwater availability for proposed subdivisions whose water supply is groundwater, effective January 1, 2024. Previously optional.
- TCEQ adopted implementing rules at 30 TAC Chapter 230 on November 20, 2024. Certification form is TCEQ-20982, prepared by a licensed PE or PG, with copies to TWDB and the local groundwater conservation district (here, Southern Trinity GCD).
- Waiver provisions exist at LGC 212.0101(a-1) and 232.0032(a-1); whether McLennan County will waive for phase one is an open county-practice question.
- Practical meaning: any phase-one plat that relies on the Heritage well (groundwater) or on individual lot wells should budget for a GW availability certification in the plat package, and the STGCD permit/registration question becomes part of the platting critical path, not just the utility path.

## 5. Live Map Re-Check (2026-06-10)

- Point query at `31.6641, -97.1617` against the PUC Water CCN Service Areas layer returned exactly one feature: `CITY OF WACO`, CCN `10039`, `Bounded Service Area`, `Commission Approved`, county `MCLENNAN`. Unchanged from prior checks.
- Name queries (`%HERITAGE%`, `%HOMESTEAD%`, `%HALBERT%`) against both the Water CCN Service Areas layer and the Water CCN Facility Lines layer returned **zero features**. The no-issued-HH-CCN working fact remains current as of today.

## 6. Docket 56800 Note

No newer status than the April 1, 2026 status report (active/abated) was retrievable today. Chalk Bluff's May 12, 2026 minutes say the Waco CCN work "looked good" with the next update expected in July. Re-pull the docket item list in July or when the signed Waco agreement surfaces.

## Sources

- PUC CCN form (current): https://ftp.puc.texas.gov/public/puct-info/industry/water/forms/CCN_Form_PFA.pdf (December 2025 revision; PDF metadata January 2026)
- PUC Chapter 24 complete rules: https://ftp.puc.texas.gov/public/puct-info/agency/rulesnlaws/subrules/water/ch24complete.pdf
- TWC 13.246 (notice/hearing; no decision deadline; 25-acre opt-out): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._water_code_section_13.246
- TWC 13.254 (50-acre expedited release at (a-1); compensation): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._water_code_section_13.254
- TWC 13.2541 (25-acre streamlined release; county criteria exclude McLennan): https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._water_code_section_13.2541
- TCEQ groundwater availability certification (SB 2440 / 30 TAC 230): https://www.tceq.texas.gov/groundwater/groundwater-planning-assessment/groundwater-availability-certification
- TWDB GAC page: https://www.twdb.texas.gov/groundwater/gac/index.asp
- PUC Water CCN Service Areas layer (live point + name queries 2026-06-10): https://services6.arcgis.com/N6Lzvtb46cpxThhu/arcgis/rest/services/Water_CCN_Service_Areas/FeatureServer/210
- PUC Water CCN Facility Lines layer (live name query 2026-06-10): https://services6.arcgis.com/N6Lzvtb46cpxThhu/arcgis/rest/services/Water_CCN_Facility_Lines/FeatureServer/200