Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 570	Senate Author:  Rodríguez et al.
Effective: Vetoed	House Sponsor:  Walle et al.

            Senate Bill 570 amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act, Health and Safety Code, to set out provisions relating to the regulation of the retention, storage, transportation, disposal, processing, and reuse of used or scrap tires. The bill, among other provisions, requires a person to register annually with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) if the person is a used or scrap tire transporter or is a tire processor that is not required to register as a used or scrap tire storage site. The bill requires a transporter or tire processor who is required to register with TCEQ to provide certain financial assurance and requires TCEQ to require a transporter to submit to TCEQ an annual report on the records maintained by the transporter. The bill authorizes a used or scrap tire generator to contract for the transportation of used or scrap tires only with a registered transporter who has filed evidence of financial assurance with TCEQ. The bill makes a generator who contracts for the transportation of used or scrap tires with a transporter the generator knows to be unregistered jointly and severally liable for any civil penalty imposed on the transporter for the illegal disposal of the tires and criminally responsible for certain litter offenses involving the tires committed by the transporter.

            Senate Bill 570 amends the Water Code to create offenses relating to reckless violations, and intentional or knowing violations, relating to used or scrap tires.

 

Governor's Reason for Veto: "Senate Bill 570 criminalizes the violation of administrative rules governing the proper disposal of tires. In order to know whether their handling of used tires is a crime or not, Texans would have to consult the Texas Register and the actions of local governments on a regular basis to ensure the rules governing tire disposal have not changed. Surely there are better ways to address the problem of old tires than by creating a new and vaguely defined crime."