It was the 19th century politician and newspaperman Gideon John Tucker (not Mark Twain, who sometimes gets credit) who once quipped, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” That proved true in Austin on Thursday when lawmakers took steps toward interfering in the sale of private property in Freestone County. The Senate should reject this troubling overreach before it becomes bad law.

House Bill 4757, the first by freshman Rep. Angelia Orr, R-Itasca, requires any application to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a change in water permit at Fairfield Lake to get approval from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. What business does TPWD have monitoring water, you ask? None at all. But that’s not the point. This isn’t about water; it’s about interrupting a private land deal. Orr said as much when she introduced the bill, celebrating that she was “saving” Fairfield Lake State Park.

That park sits on land owned by Vistra Corp., which operated a power plant there until 2018 and gave the state free access. In preparation for selling the land, Vistra applied for a permit to change use of the lake water from industrial to residential, agricultural, recreational and other uses. At a committee hearing in February, TCEQ deputy division director Kim Nygren testified that the request is very limited and relatively common, and that it would not change the amount of water that could legally be consumed from the lake.

“It doesn’t change anything about the amount of water being used. So that wouldn’t impact other water right holders differently than it does today, nor would it affect the river any differently than it does today,” Nygren said.

Tellingly, Orr’s bill does not require TPWD approval for any other permit change in the state, including at other state park lakes leased from private owners. It only applies to Fairfield. Again, this isn’t about water. It’s about trying to save face after it has become clear that the government bungled the Fairfield deal just when the state is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Texas parks.

In February, we reported that TPWD Chairman Arch “Beaver” Aplin declined an offer to save the park, apparently continuing a TPWD tradition of hoping to get it on the cheap. Surprising no one outside of Austin, that didn’t work out. But rather than own up to mistakes and hold bureaucrats accountable, state leaders are doubling-down and getting in the middle of a private transaction. It’s hard to see how this doesn’t constitute tortious interference, which ought to be a no-no in a state that champions free markets and property rights.