By: Armbrister S.B. No. 1026
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to solid waste disposal fees on the composting of yard
1-2 waste.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 361.013, Health and Safety Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 361.013. Solid Waste Disposal and Transportation Fees.
1-7 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (f) <(e)>, the department
1-8 shall charge a fee on solid waste that is disposed of within this
1-9 state. The fee is the greater of 50 cents per ton or, for
1-10 compacted solid waste, 50 cents per cubic yard or, for uncompacted
1-11 solid waste, 10 cents per cubic yard received for disposal at a
1-12 landfill. The department shall set the fee for sludge or similar
1-13 waste applied to the land for beneficial use on a dry weight basis
1-14 and for solid waste received at an incinerator or a shredding and
1-15 composting facility at half the fee set for solid waste received
1-16 for disposal at a landfill. The department may charge comparable
1-17 fees for other means of solid waste disposal that are used.
1-18 (b) The operator of a municipal solid waste facility is
1-19 entitled to retain 15 percent of the solid waste fee collected by
1-20 the facility if the retained fees are used to purchase and operate
1-21 equipment necessary to compost yard waste. Composting operations
1-22 must actually be performed and the finished compost material
1-23 returned to beneficial reuse in order to retain the specified
2-1 percentage of the fee. The amount of the fee retained shall be
2-2 increased to 20 percent of the solid waste fee collected by the
2-3 facility if, in addition to the requirements stated above, the
2-4 operator of a municipal solid waste facility also voluntarily bans
2-5 the disposal of yard waste from the facility. For the purposes of
2-6 this subsection the definitions for compost, composting, and yard
2-7 waste in Section 361.421 shall apply.
2-8 (c) <(b)> The department may raise or lower the fees
2-9 established under Subsection (a) in accordance with department
2-10 spending levels established by the legislature.
2-11 (d) <(c)> The department shall charge an annual registration
2-12 fee to a transporter of solid waste who is required to register
2-13 with the department under rules adopted by the board of health.
2-14 The board of health by rule shall adopt a fee schedule. The fee
2-15 shall be reasonably related to the volume, the type, or both the
2-16 volume and type of waste transported. The registration fee charged
2-17 under this subsection may not be less than $25 or more than $500.
2-18 (e) <(d)> The operator of each municipal solid waste
2-19 facility shall maintain records and report to the department
2-20 annually on the amount of solid waste that the facility transfers,
2-21 processes, stores, treats, or disposes <of>. Each transporter
2-22 required to register with the department shall maintain records and
2-23 report to the department annually on the amount of solid waste that
2-24 the transporter transports. The board of health by rule shall
2-25 establish procedures for recordkeeping and reporting required under
3-1 this subsection.
3-2 (f) <(e)> The department may not charge a fee under
3-3 Subsection (a) for scrap tires that are deposited in a designated
3-4 recycling collection area at a landfill permitted by the commission
3-5 or the department or licensed by a county or by a political
3-6 subdivision exercising the authority granted by Section 361.165 and
3-7 that are temporarily stored for eventual recycling, reuse, or
3-8 energy recovery.
3-9 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
3-15 terms, and it is so enacted.