By:  Gray                                             H.B. No. 2537
       73R5561 JJT-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the development and use of land over a closed municipal
    1-3  solid waste facility; providing a civil penalty.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, is amended
    1-6  by adding Subchapter R to read as follows:
    1-7               SUBCHAPTER R.  USE OF LAND OVER MUNICIPAL
    1-8                         SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS
    1-9        Sec. 361.531.  DEFINITION.  In this subchapter, "develop" or
   1-10  "development" includes:
   1-11              (1)  platting lots;
   1-12              (2)  subdividing land;
   1-13              (3)  constructing, altering, relocating, enlarging, or
   1-14  redeveloping a structure that has a foundation;
   1-15              (4)  constructing roads;
   1-16              (5)  excavating land; or
   1-17              (6)  installing or extending sewer, water, septic, or
   1-18  electric utilities.
   1-19        Sec. 361.532.  PERMIT REQUIRED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN
   1-20  LAND.  (a)  The owner or lessee of land located over any part of a
   1-21  closed municipal solid waste landfill facility may not develop the
   1-22  land unless the owner or lessee holds a permit for the development
   1-23  issued under this subchapter.
   1-24        (b)  This subchapter does not apply to activities associated
    2-1  with solid waste disposal that are approved by the commission.
    2-2        Sec. 361.533.  APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT PERMIT.  (a)  The
    2-3  owner or lessee of land located over any part of a closed municipal
    2-4  solid waste landfill facility may apply for a permit to develop the
    2-5  land.  The owner or lessee shall submit to the executive director
    2-6  an application for a permit on forms prescribed by the commission
    2-7  not later than 45 days before the development begins.  The
    2-8  application must include a registered professional engineer's
    2-9  verified certification that the proposed development is necessary
   2-10  to reduce a potential threat to public health or the environment or
   2-11  that the proposed development will not increase or create a
   2-12  potential threat to public health or the environment.  The
   2-13  certification must indicate the registered professional engineer's
   2-14  determination of whether the proposed development will damage the
   2-15  integrity or function of any component of the landfill's:
   2-16              (1)  final cover;
   2-17              (2)  containment systems;
   2-18              (3)  monitoring systems; or
   2-19              (4)  liners.
   2-20        (b)  The engineer's certification required under Subsection
   2-21  (a) must include documentation of all studies or data on which the
   2-22  engineer relied.
   2-23        Sec. 361.534.  PERMIT HEARING.  (a)  The commission shall set
   2-24  a hearing to be held not later than the 30th day after the date
   2-25  that the commission receives an application under this subchapter.
   2-26        (b)  The commission by mail shall notify the applicant of the
   2-27  date, time, and place of the hearing not later than the 15th day
    3-1  before the date of the hearing.  The commission shall publish
    3-2  notice of the hearing in a newspaper that is generally circulated
    3-3  in each county in which the property proposed for development is
    3-4  located.  The published notice must appear at least once a week for
    3-5  the two weeks before the date of the hearing.
    3-6        Sec. 361.535.  ISSUANCE OF PERMIT; PERMIT CONDITIONS.  (a)
    3-7  The commission may issue a permit for the development of land over
    3-8  a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility only if the
    3-9  commission finds that the proposed development will not increase or
   3-10  create a potential threat to public health or the environment.
   3-11        (b)  The commission may impose conditions on a permit that
   3-12  are designed to prevent a threat to public health or the
   3-13  environment.  Conditions may include:
   3-14              (1)  restrictions on building types, construction
   3-15  methods, pilings, boring, or digging;
   3-16              (2)  requiring ventilation, emissions or water quality
   3-17  monitoring devices, soil testing, warnings to subsequent owners or
   3-18  lessees, maintenance of structures or landfill containment, or the
   3-19  placement of additional soil layers or building pads; or
   3-20              (3)  any other conditions the commission finds to be
   3-21  reasonable and necessary to protect the public health or the
   3-22  environment or to ensure compliance with rules or conditions
   3-23  adopted or imposed under this subchapter.
   3-24        Sec. 361.536.  REQUIREMENTS FOR STRUCTURES ON CLOSED
   3-25  MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL FACILITY.  (a)  The owner or lessee
   3-26  of an existing or new structure that overlies a closed municipal
   3-27  solid waste landfill facility shall install automatic methane gas
    4-1  sensors approved by the commission and designed to trigger an
    4-2  audible alarm if the volumetric concentration of methane in the
    4-3  sampled air is greater than one percent.
    4-4        (b)  In the development of land that overlies a closed
    4-5  municipal solid waste landfill facility, a person may not, unless
    4-6  approved by the commission:
    4-7              (1)  drive piling into or through the final cover or a
    4-8  liner;
    4-9              (2)  bore through or otherwise penetrate the final
   4-10  cover or a liner; or
   4-11              (3)  construct an enclosed area under the natural grade
   4-12  of the land or under the grade of the final cover of the closed
   4-13  landfill.
   4-14        (c)  The owner or lessee of a structure built over a closed
   4-15  municipal solid waste landfill facility shall modify the structure
   4-16  as is necessary to comply with commission rules for a new structure
   4-17  that overlies a landfill to minimize the effects of, or to prevent,
   4-18  gas accumulation.  The commission shall adopt rules to allow the
   4-19  owner or lessee of a structure a reasonable amount of time to make
   4-20  required modifications.
   4-21        (d)  The commission by rule shall require plans for a new
   4-22  structure over a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility to
   4-23  prevent or minimize the effects of harmful gas accumulation.  At a
   4-24  minimum, the commission shall require:
   4-25              (1)  ventilation or active gas collection systems;
   4-26              (2)  a low gas-permeable membrane and a vented,
   4-27  permeable layer of an open-graded, clean aggregate material
    5-1  installed between the area below the slab for the structure and the
    5-2  soil of the final cover; and
    5-3              (3)  automatic methane gas sensors that will sound an
    5-4  audible alarm if the sensor detects a methane gas volumetric
    5-5  concentration of greater than one percent installed:
    5-6                    (A)  within the venting pipe or permeable layer;
    5-7  and
    5-8                    (B)  inside the structure.
    5-9        Sec. 361.537.  LEASE RESTRICTION; NOTICE TO LESSEE.  A person
   5-10  may not lease or offer for lease land that overlies a closed
   5-11  municipal solid waste landfill facility unless:
   5-12              (1)  existing development on the land is in compliance
   5-13  with this subchapter; or
   5-14              (2)  the person gives notice to the prospective lessee
   5-15  of what is required to bring the land and any development on the
   5-16  land into compliance with this subchapter and the prohibitions or
   5-17  requirements for future development imposed by this subchapter and
   5-18  by any permit issued for the land under this subchapter.
   5-19        Sec. 361.538.  SOIL TEST REQUIRED BEFORE DEVELOPMENT OF
   5-20  CERTAIN LAND.  (a)  A person may not undertake the development of a
   5-21  tract of land that is greater than one acre in area unless the
   5-22  person has conducted soil tests, in accordance with commission
   5-23  rules, to determine whether any part of the tract overlies a closed
   5-24  municipal solid waste landfill facility.
   5-25        (b)  Tests under this section must be conducted by a
   5-26  registered professional engineer.
   5-27        (c)  If an engineer who conducts a test under this section
    6-1  determines that part of the tract overlies a closed municipal solid
    6-2  waste landfill facility, the engineer shall notify the following
    6-3  persons of the determination:
    6-4              (1)  each owner and each lessee of the tract;
    6-5              (2)  the commission; and
    6-6              (3)  any local governmental official with the authority
    6-7  to disapprove an application for development.
    6-8        (d)  A local governmental official who receives a notice
    6-9  under this section shall notify the county clerk of each county in
   6-10  which the tract is located of the portion of the tract that
   6-11  overlies a closed municipal solid waste landfill facility.  The
   6-12  county clerk shall record on the deed records of the land formerly
   6-13  used as a landfill a description of the pertinent part of the land,
   6-14  notice of its former use, and notice of the restrictions on the
   6-15  development or lease of the land imposed by this subchapter.
   6-16        (e)  The owner or lessee of land for which a test is done
   6-17  under this section shall send the test results to the executive
   6-18  director not later than the 30th day before the development begins.
   6-19        Sec. 361.539.  NOTICE TO BUYERS, LESSEES, AND OCCUPANTS.  (a)
   6-20  An owner of land that overlies a closed municipal solid waste
   6-21  landfill facility shall cause the county clerk to record on the
   6-22  deed records of the land a description of the pertinent part of the
   6-23  land, notice of its former use, and notice of the restrictions on
   6-24  the development or lease of the land imposed by this subchapter.
   6-25        (b)  An owner of land that overlies a closed municipal solid
   6-26  waste landfill facility shall notify each lessee and each occupant
   6-27  of a structure that overlies the site of:
    7-1              (1)  the land's former use as a landfill; and
    7-2              (2)  the structural controls in place to minimize
    7-3  potential future danger posed by the landfill.
    7-4        Sec. 361.540.  CIVIL PENALTY.  (a)  A person who violates
    7-5  this subchapter is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000
    7-6  for each violation.
    7-7        (b)  The attorney general or the prosecuting attorney in a
    7-8  county in which the closed municipal solid waste landfill facility
    7-9  is located may bring suit to recover the penalty imposed by
   7-10  Subsection (a).
   7-11        (c)  A penalty collected under this section shall be
   7-12  deposited to the credit of the general revenue fund.
   7-13        SECTION 2.  (a)  The Texas Natural Resource Conservation
   7-14  Commission by rule shall require a municipality that has operated
   7-15  or contracted with a municipal solid waste landfill facility to
   7-16  conduct an inventory of former municipal solid waste landfill
   7-17  facilities in the county in which the municipality is located.  The
   7-18  municipalities subject to the rule that are located in the same
   7-19  county shall cooperate to create a single comprehensive inventory.
   7-20        (b)  The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission shall
   7-21  require, at a minimum, the inventory to include the location of the
   7-22  former landfill facilities, the current owners of the land on which
   7-23  the former landfill facilities were located, and the current use of
   7-24  the land.
   7-25        (c)  The governing board of a municipality, or a person
   7-26  designated by the governing board, shall notify the owner of land
   7-27  that overlies a former municipal solid waste landfill facility of
    8-1  the former use of the land and shall notify the county clerk of a
    8-2  county in which the former landfill facility is located of the
    8-3  former use.  The county clerk shall record on the deed records of
    8-4  land formerly used as a municipal solid waste landfill a
    8-5  description of the pertinent part of the land, notice of its former
    8-6  use, and notice of the restrictions on the development or lease of
    8-7  the land imposed by this subchapter.
    8-8        (d)  The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission may
    8-9  grant money from fees collected under Section 361.013, Health and
   8-10  Safety Code, to a municipality or association of municipalities for
   8-11  the purpose of conducting the inventory required by this section.
   8-12        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   8-13        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   8-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   8-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   8-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   8-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.