By:  Kamel                                             H.B. No. 403
       72S11877 MI-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the repeal of certain fees imposed on used tires and
    1-3  lead-acid batteries.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 361.013(a), Health and Safety Code, as
    1-6  amended by Chapter 303, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular
    1-7  Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (a)  The <Except as provided by Subsection (e), the>
    1-9  department shall charge a fee on solid waste that is disposed of
   1-10  within this state.  The fee is 50 cents per ton or 17 cents per
   1-11  cubic yard of compacted solid waste and 10 cents per cubic yard of
   1-12  uncompacted solid waste received for disposal at a landfill.  The
   1-13  department shall set the fee for sludge or similar waste applied to
   1-14  the land for beneficial use on a dry weight basis and for solid
   1-15  waste received at an incinerator or a shredding and composting
   1-16  facility at half the fee set for solid waste received for disposal
   1-17  at a landfill.  The department may charge comparable fees for other
   1-18  means of solid waste disposal that are used.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section 361.034(c), Health and Safety Code, as
   1-20  added by Chapter 710, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular
   1-21  Session, 1991, is amended to read as follows:
   1-22        (c)  The report due January 1, 1993, shall also include <an
   1-23  evaluation of fees on products authorized under Section 361.138.
   1-24  This evaluation shall include> an assessment of the needs of the
    2-1  state for the remediation of contaminated disposal sites identified
    2-2  under Subchapter F, Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, the
    2-3  sources of contamination at these sites, and the revenues available
    2-4  under existing authority to apply to remediation efforts.  The
    2-5  report shall include recommendations for <possible additions to
    2-6  products subject to fees under Section 361.138 or> other revenue
    2-7  measures which will adequately and equitably apportion the costs of
    2-8  remediation of contaminated sites.  In making this assessment
    2-9  <evaluation>, the commission shall consult with members of the
   2-10  regulated community, other businesses or industries subject to or
   2-11  affected by potential recommendations, and environmental or other
   2-12  public interest organizations.
   2-13        SECTION 3.  Sections 361.112(f), (k), and (l), Health and
   2-14  Safety Code, as amended by Chapter 303, Acts of the 72nd
   2-15  Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, are amended to read as follows:
   2-16        (f)  A person may not store more than 500 used or scrap tires
   2-17  or dispose of any quantity of used or scrap tires unless the tires
   2-18  are shredded, split, or quartered as provided by board of health
   2-19  rule.  The department may grant an exception to this requirement if
   2-20  the department finds that circumstances warrant the exception.
   2-21  <The prohibition provided by this subsection does not apply to a
   2-22  person who, for eventual recycling, reuse, or energy recovery,
   2-23  temporarily stores scrap tires in a designated recycling collection
   2-24  area at a landfill permitted by the commission or the department or
   2-25  licensed by a county or by a political subdivision exercising the
   2-26  authority granted by Section 361.165.>
   2-27        (k)  <The department may not register or issue a permit to a
    3-1  facility required by Section 361.479 to provide evidence of
    3-2  financial responsibility unless the facility has complied with that
    3-3  section.>
    3-4        <(l)>  In this section, "scrap tire" means a tire that can no
    3-5  longer be used for its original intended purpose.
    3-6        SECTION 4.  Sections 361.133(b) and (e), Health and Safety
    3-7  Code, as amended by Chapter 710, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
    3-8  Regular Session, 1991, are amended to read as follows:
    3-9        (b)  The fund consists of money collected by the commission
   3-10  from:
   3-11              (1)  fees imposed on the owner or operator of an
   3-12  industrial solid waste or hazardous waste facility for commercial
   3-13  and noncommercial management or disposal of hazardous waste under
   3-14  Section 361.136 <and fees imposed under Section 361.138>;
   3-15              (2)  interest and penalties imposed under Section
   3-16  361.140 for late payment of a fee or late filing of a report;
   3-17              (3)  money paid by a person liable for facility cleanup
   3-18  and maintenance under Section 361.197;
   3-19              (4)  the interest received from the investment of this
   3-20  fund, in accounts under the charge of the treasurer, to be credited
   3-21  pro rata to the hazardous and solid waste remediation fee fund; and
   3-22              (5)  monies transferred from other agencies under
   3-23  provisions of this code or grants from any person made for the
   3-24  purpose of remediation of facilities under this chapter.
   3-25        (e)  The commission shall monitor the unobligated balance in
   3-26  the hazardous and solid waste remediation fee fund and all sources
   3-27  of revenue to the fund and may adjust the amount of fees collected
    4-1  under Subsection (d) of this section <and Section 361.138 of this
    4-2  chapter>, within prescribed limits, to maintain an unobligated
    4-3  balance of at least $5 million and no more than $25 million at the
    4-4  end of each fiscal year.
    4-5        SECTION 5.   (a)  Section 361.013(e), Health and Safety Code,
    4-6  as added by Chapter 303, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular
    4-7  Session, 1991; Section 361.138, Health and Safety Code, as added by
    4-8  Chapter 710, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991;
    4-9  Subchapter P, Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, as added by
   4-10  Chapter 303, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991,
   4-11  and amended by S.B. No. 2, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, 1st Called
   4-12  Session, 1991; and Chapter 370, Acts of the 72nd Legislature,
   4-13  Regular Session, 1991; are repealed effective on the later of
   4-14  September 1, 1991, or the effective date of this Act.
   4-15        (b)  Sections 1.026, 1.0261, 1.0262, and 1.027, S.B. No. 2,
   4-16  Acts of the 72nd Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1991, are
   4-17  repealed effective on the later of September 1, 1991, or the
   4-18  effective date of this Act.
   4-19        SECTION 6.  Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Act take effect
   4-20  on the later of September 1, 1991, or the effective date of this
   4-21  Act.
   4-22        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
   4-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-25  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-26  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   4-27  and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
    5-1  terms, and it is so enacted.