By Saunders                                           H.B. No. 2043
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the process of the Texas Water Commission and to
    1-3  exemption from permitting of certain waste management facilities.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 5.103, Water Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 5.103.  Rules.  (a)  The commission shall adopt any
    1-8  rules necessary to carry out its powers and duties under this code
    1-9  and other laws of this state.
   1-10        (b)  The commission shall adopt reasonable procedural rules
   1-11  to be followed in a commission hearing.  The executive director may
   1-12  recommend to the commission for its consideration any rules that he
   1-13  considers necessary.
   1-14        (c)  Rules shall be adopted in the manner provided by the
   1-15  Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act (Article 6252-13a,
   1-16  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).  As provided by that Act, the
   1-17  commission must adopt rules when adopting, repealing, or amending
   1-18  any agency statement of general applicability that interprets or
   1-19  prescribes law or policy, or describes the procedure or practice
   1-20  requirements of an agency.  The commission shall follow its own
   1-21  rules as adopted until it changes them in accordance with that Act.
   1-22        SECTION 2.  Section 361.111, Health and Safety Code, is
   1-23  amended to read as follows:
    2-1        Sec. 361.111.  COMMISSION SHALL <DEPARTMENT MAY> EXEMPT
    2-2  CERTAIN MUNICIPAL OR COUNTY FACILITIES.  (a)  The commission shall
    2-3  <department may> exempt from permit requirements a municipal or
    2-4  county solid waste management facility that:
    2-5              (1)  is used in the transfer of municipal solid waste
    2-6  from a service area with a population of less than 50,000 or a
    2-7  county with a population of less than 85,000 or from a facility
    2-8  used in the transfer of municipal solid waste with a capacity of
    2-9  125 tons per day or less <5,000> to a solid waste processing or
   2-10  disposal site; and
   2-11              (2)  complies with requirements established by
   2-12  commission <board of health> rule that are necessary to protect the
   2-13  public's health and the environment.
   2-14        (b)  To qualify for this exemption the county or municipality
   2-15  must hold a public hearing on the siting of the facility.
   2-16        SECTION 3.  Section 1 of this Act shall apply to all rules in
   2-17  existence at the time this law becomes effective and to all rules
   2-18  adopted thereafter.
   2-19        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
   2-25  terms, and it is so enacted.