By:  Hamric                                           H.B. No. 2091
       73R4277 JJT-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the responsibility of a political subdivision, its
    1-3  officers, or its employees for solid waste on certain property
    1-4  acquired through certain functions as sovereign.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 361.271, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-7  amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 361.271.  PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOLID WASTE.  (a)  For
    1-9  the purpose of this subchapter, a person is responsible for solid
   1-10  waste if the person:
   1-11              (1)  is any owner or operator of a solid waste
   1-12  facility;
   1-13              (2)  owned or operated a solid waste facility at the
   1-14  time of processing, storage, or disposal of any solid waste;
   1-15              (3)  by contract, agreement, or otherwise, arranged to
   1-16  process, store, or dispose of, or arranged with a transporter for
   1-17  transport to process, store, or dispose of, solid waste owned or
   1-18  possessed by the person, by any other person or entity at:
   1-19                    (A)  the solid waste facility owned or operated
   1-20  by another person or entity that contains the solid waste; or
   1-21                    (B)  the site to which the solid waste was
   1-22  transported that contains the solid waste; or
   1-23              (4)  accepts or accepted any solid waste for transport
   1-24  to a solid waste facility or site selected by the person.
    2-1        (b)  A political subdivision or an officer or employee of the
    2-2  political subdivision is not a person responsible for solid waste
    2-3  released or threatened to be released from a facility or at a site
    2-4  if:
    2-5              (1)  the political subdivision acquired ownership or
    2-6  control of the facility or site through bankruptcy, tax
    2-7  delinquency, abandonment, or other circumstances in which the
    2-8  subdivision involuntarily acquired title to the facility or site by
    2-9  virtue of the subdivision's function as sovereign; and
   2-10              (2)  the political subdivision, officer, or employee
   2-11  did not cause or contribute to the release or threatened release of
   2-12  solid waste at the facility or site.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-18  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-19  passage, and it is so enacted.