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House Bill 2376 |
House Author: Elkins |
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Effective: 9-1-05 |
Senate Sponsor: Jackson, Mike |
House Bill 2376 amends provisions of the Health and Safety Code relating to the dry cleaner environmental response program at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The bill revises the definitions of "dry cleaning facility" and "dry cleaning drop station" to include references to the North American Industry Classification System and defines "chlorinated dry cleaning solvent" to include a certain solvent and its alternate chemical name. The bill adds secondary containment for all new or replaced dry cleaning units, regardless of the solvent used, to the performance standards that the commission must require by rule for new dry cleaning facilities. The bill also requires the commission by rule to require businesses operating on or before January 1, 2004, whose annual gross receipts are $150,000 or less, to implement this and certain other performance standards relating to containment structures not later than January 1, 2015. It removes language authorizing the commission to exempt businesses whose annual gross receipts are $200,000 or less from the performance standards on the basis of financial hardship.
The bill authorizes annual registration fees paid by dry cleaning facilities and drop stations to be divided into quarterly payments and billed on dates established by the commission and removes language exempting a facility that uses carbon dioxide as a dry cleaning solvent from paying the fee. It sets the annual registration fee at $250 for a dry cleaning facility with gross annual receipts of $150,000 or less, rather than $100,000 or less, and at $2,500 for a facility with gross annual receipts of more than $150,000, rather than more than $100,000. It prescribes a new fee for a dry cleaning facility that depends entirely on revenue collected from an associated dry cleaning drop station or stations. The bill sets the fee for a drop station at $250 or $750, depending on gross annual receipts, rather than at $1,000 or $250, depending on ownership of the station. It establishes an annual registration fee of $125 for a drop station that files an option with the commission not to participate in benefits from the dry cleaning facility release fund and retains the $250 fee amount for a nonparticipating dry cleaning facility. The bill requires the commission, for each registration application, to request the comptroller to verify the owner's standing with the state and whether the owner's gross annual receipts information agrees with the comptroller's information. It authorizes the commission, if a registration fee is not paid on or before the 30th day after the fee is due, to assess a penalty not to exceed $50 per day for each day the fee is not paid. The commission is also authorized to assess this penalty for each day that a registration application is not filed for an operating dry cleaning facility or drop station. The bill requires a person who distributes dry cleaning solvent to register as a distributor with the commission and authorizes the distributor to withhold for administrative expenses one percent of the per-gallon fee imposed on the purchase of dry cleaning solvent.
The bill adds dry cleaning drop stations to provisions relating to nonparticipating dry cleaning facilities. It requires the option not to participate in benefits from the dry cleaning facility release fund to be filed on or before February 28, 2006, rather than before January 1, 2004, and prohibits an owner from filing the option after September 1, 2005, unless the owner was the owner of the facility or drop station on January 1, 2004, and was eligible to file but inadvertently failed to file. The bill requires the commission to designate a dry cleaning facility or drop station as nonparticipating if the owner meets certain requirements, including obtaining the written consent of the person who owns the real property on which the dry cleaning facility or drop station is located. It requires the owner of a dry cleaning facility that filed an option not to participate before the effective date of this act to comply with the consent requirement to maintain nonparticipating status. Regarding response to release and corrective action, the bill prohibits a person from knowingly, rather than intentionally, allowing a release, and it requires a person who knows of a release of certain specified amounts of solvent to immediately contain and control the release and to notify the commission of the release before the expiration of 24, rather than 48, hours after the person learns of the release.
House Bill 2376 also amends provisions relating to the advisory committee established to assist the commission in ranking contaminated sites, developing rules, and preparing a biennial report about the program. The bill strikes certain provisions relating to criteria that the commission must consider in determining whether a corrective action is complete and to administrative and start-up expenses of the commission. It authorizes the commission, or the attorney general at the request of the commission, to bring a civil action to recover the costs of corrective action attributable to the owner of a contaminated site. The bill provides that if the state prevails in an appeal of an administrative order, the state is entitled to recover reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the judgment. The bill amends the Water Code to increase from $1,000 to $10,000 the cap on the penalty amount for knowingly making any false material statement or representation in a document filed, maintained, or used for the purpose of compliance with the requirements of this program.