By: Greenberg H.B. No. 755
73R597 MI-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to restrictions on the sale of certain cleaning agents
1-3 that contain phosphorus; providing a penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle B, Title 5, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 373 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 373. CLEANING AGENTS CONTAINING PHOSPHORUS
1-8 Sec. 373.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Cleaning agent" means a product, including a soap
1-10 or detergent, that contains a surfactant as a wetting or
1-11 dirt-emulsifying agent and is used primarily for domestic or
1-12 commercial cleaning purposes, including the cleaning of fabrics,
1-13 dishes, food utensils, or household or commercial premises. The
1-14 term does not include foods, drugs, cosmetics, insecticides,
1-15 fungicides, or rodenticides.
1-16 (2) "Commercial premises" means a premises used for
1-17 the purpose of carrying on or exercising a trade, business,
1-18 profession, vocation, or commercial or charitable activity,
1-19 including a laundry, hotel, motel, or food or restaurant
1-20 establishment.
1-21 (3) "Commission" means the Texas Natural Resource
1-22 Conservation Commission.
1-23 (4) "Phosphorus" means elemental phosphorus.
1-24 Sec. 373.002. APPLICATION. Section 373.003 does not apply
2-1 to a cleaning agent:
2-2 (1) that is used:
2-3 (A) in dairy, beverage, or food processing
2-4 equipment;
2-5 (B) as an industrial sanitizer, brightener, acid
2-6 cleaner, or metal conditioner, including phosphoric acid products
2-7 or trisodium phosphate;
2-8 (C) in hospitals, veterinary hospitals, clinics,
2-9 or health care facilities;
2-10 (D) in a commercial laundry for laundry services
2-11 provided to a hospital, veterinary hospital, clinic, or health care
2-12 facility;
2-13 (E) in agricultural production;
2-14 (F) in the production of electronic components;
2-15 (G) by industry for metal cleaning or
2-16 conditioning;
2-17 (H) in a laboratory, including a biological,
2-18 chemical, electronic, or engineering laboratory or a research
2-19 facility;
2-20 (I) for cleaning hard surfaces, including
2-21 household cleansers for windows, sinks, counters, stoves, tubs, or
2-22 other food preparation surfaces or plumbing fixtures; or
2-23 (J) as a water softening chemical, antiscale
2-24 chemical, or corrosion inhibitor intended for use in a closed
2-25 system, including boilers, air conditioners, cooling towers, or hot
2-26 water systems;
2-27 (2) that is manufactured, stored, or distributed for
3-1 use or sale outside this state; or
3-2 (3) for which the commission determines that the
3-3 prohibition imposed by Section 373.003 will either:
3-4 (A) create a significant hardship on the user;
3-5 or
3-6 (B) be unreasonable because there is no adequate
3-7 substitute cleaning agent.
3-8 Sec. 373.003. PROHIBITION ON SALE OR DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN
3-9 CLEANING AGENTS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a
3-10 person may not sell, offer to sell, or distribute for sale in this
3-11 state a cleaning agent that contains more than 0.5 percent
3-12 phosphorus by weight.
3-13 (b) A cleaning agent used in automatic dishwashers may be
3-14 sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in this state if
3-15 the cleaning agent contains no more than 8.7 percent phosphorus by
3-16 weight.
3-17 Sec. 373.004. LABELING REQUIRED. (a) A cleaning agent
3-18 sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in this state shall
3-19 be labeled with the percentage of phosphorus by weight.
3-20 (b) The label must also include the equivalency in grams of
3-21 phosphorus for each recommended use level.
3-22 Sec. 373.005. RULES. The commission shall adopt rules
3-23 necessary to implement this chapter.
3-24 Sec. 373.006. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates
3-25 this chapter is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for
3-26 each day of violation.
3-27 (b) The attorney general or the prosecuting attorney in the
4-1 county in which an alleged violation occurs may bring suit to
4-2 recover the civil penalty imposed by this section.
4-3 (c) A civil penalty recovered under this section shall be
4-4 deposited in the general revenue fund if the attorney general
4-5 brings the suit, or in the general fund of the county in which the
4-6 violation occurred if the prosecuting attorney of that county
4-7 brings the suit.
4-8 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 1993, the Texas
4-9 Natural Resource Conservation Commission shall adopt rules required
4-10 by Section 373.005, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
4-11 (b) The powers, duties, rights, and obligations given to the
4-12 Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission by this Act are the
4-13 powers, duties, rights, and obligations of the Texas Water
4-14 Commission or its successor if:
4-15 (1) the change in name of the Texas Water Commission
4-16 to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission does not take
4-17 effect as provided by Section 1.085, Chapter 3, Acts of the 72nd
4-18 Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1991;
4-19 (2) the transfer of the powers, duties, rights, and
4-20 obligations of the Texas Water Commission to the Texas Natural
4-21 Resource Conservation Commission does not take effect as provided
4-22 by Chapter 3, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, 1st Called Session,
4-23 1991; or
4-24 (3) the 73rd Legislature does not pass an Act that
4-25 becomes law and provides for the transfer of certain powers,
4-26 duties, rights, and obligations of the Texas Water Commission to
4-27 the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission on or before
5-1 September 1, 1993.
5-2 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-3 (b) Sections 373.003, 373.004, and 373.006, Health and
5-4 Safety Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a sale, offer for
5-5 sale, or distribution for sale in this state that occurs on or
5-6 after January 1, 1994.
5-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.