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Senate Bill 1727 |
Senate Author: Deuell et al. |
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Effective: 6-14-13 |
House Sponsor: Isaac et al. |
Senate Bill 1727 amends the Health and Safety Code to revise provisions of the Texas emissions reduction plan relating to the plan's uses. Among other provisions, the bill includes the clean fleet program, the alternative fueling facilities program, the natural gas vehicle grant program, the clean transportation triangle program, the drayage truck incentive program, and certain other Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) developed programs among the programs for which TCEQ and the comptroller of public accounts are required to provide grants and other funding under the Texas emissions reduction plan. The bill authorizes TCEQ to establish and administer other programs that meet the plan's requirements.
Senate Bill 1727 requires TCEQ to provide specific eligibility requirements under the Texas clean fleet program and under the Texas natural gas vehicle grant program for projects relating to agricultural product transportation. The bill authorizes TCEQ to establish certain alternative minimum percentage reduction standards as an incentive for the conversion of heavy‑duty diesel on-road vehicle engines or non-road engines to operate under a dual fuel configuration that uses natural gas and diesel fuels through a certified alternative fuel conversion system.
Senate Bill 1727 sets an expiration date of August 31, 2015, for the light-duty motor vehicle purchase or lease incentive program, limits the program to 2,000 vehicles for the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2013, and revises certain provisions relating to the program, including adding a $2,500 incentive for an eligible new light-duty motor vehicle powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or electric drive. The bill also requires TCEQ to develop a purchase incentive program to encourage owners to replace drayage trucks with pre-2007 model year engines with newer drayage trucks.
Senate Bill 1727 revises the overall allocation of Texas emissions reduction plan funds, authorizes TCEQ to allocate unexpended money designated for certain programs, authorizes TCEQ to reallocate money designated for other programs, and authorizes money in the fund to be used by TCEQ for certain programs developed by TCEQ that lead to specified reduced emissions in a nonattainment area or affected county, that support congestion mitigation to reduce mobile source ozone precursor emissions, or that are necessary or effective in fulfilling TCEQ's duties and achieving its objectives, as may be appropriated for those programs. The bill requires TCEQ, if the legislature does not specify amounts or percentages from the total appropriation to be allocated to the plan's required programs, to determine the amounts of the total appropriations to be allocated to each of the required programs, such that the total appropriation is expended while maximizing emissions reductions.
Senate Bill 1727 revises the minimum capital expenditure threshold for new technology projects that reduce emissions of regulated pollutants from point sources to be considered for a grant under the new technology implementation grant program. The bill changes the required amount TCEQ awards for each vehicle being replaced under the Texas clean fleet program from an amount determined as certain percentages of the incremental cost for replacement to an amount that is an amount up to 80 percent of the total cost for replacement of a heavy-duty or light-duty diesel engine.
Senate Bill 1727 caps the amount of a standardized grant assigned under the grant schedule developed by TCEQ for the Texas natural gas vehicle grant program at 90 percent of the incremental cost of a natural gas vehicle purchase, lease, other commercial finance, or repowering, rather than limiting the grant to between 60 percent and 90 percent of such a cost.
Senate Bill 1727 includes nonattainment areas and affected counties of Texas among the areas for which TCEQ is required to award grants to support the development of a network of natural gas vehicle fueling stations. The bill removes a provision prohibiting TCEQ from awarding more than three station grants to any entity and raises the caps on grants for a compressed natural gas station, a liquefied natural gas station, and a station providing both liquefied and compressed natural gas. The bill further revises certain application requirements for such a grant.
Senate Bill 1727 requires TCEQ, for each eligible facility for which a recipient is awarded a grant under the alternative fueling facilities program, to award the grant in an amount equal to the lesser of 50 percent of the sum of the actual eligible costs incurred by the grant recipient within deadlines established by TCEQ to construct, reconstruct, or acquire the facility or $600,000, rather than $500,000.