Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 2997 amends the Water Code to require the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to adopt a comprehensive program that provides certain regulatory incentives to encourage the use of environmental management systems, as defined in the bill, by regulated entities, state agencies, local governments, and other entities. The bill sets out the minimum criteria that a regulated entity's environmental management system must meet in order to be eligible to receive the incentives and requires the commission to consider whether the applicant has implemented and maintained compliance with an environmental management system as part of its consideration of the compliance history of an applicant for a permit for the discharge of certain waste or pollutants, including sewage municipal wastes, into or adjacent to water, or a permit for an injection well. The bill also includes similar compliance history requirements in Health and Safety Code provisions relating to a permit application for a solid waste facility or a preconstruction permit for a facility that will emit air contaminants.