By:  Zaffirini, Rosson                                S.B. No. 1127
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to rules adopted by the Texas Board of Health regarding
    1-2  the transportation and routing of radioactive material and waste.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 401.052, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 401.052.  RULES <AND GUIDELINES> FOR TRANSPORTATION AND
    1-7  ROUTING.  (a)  The board shall adopt rules <and guidelines> that
    1-8  provide for transportation and routing of radioactive material and
    1-9  waste in this state.
   1-10        (b)  Rules adopted under this section for radioactive waste
   1-11  shall:
   1-12              (1)  to the extent practicable, be compatible with
   1-13  United States Department of Transportation and United States
   1-14  Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations relating to the
   1-15  transportation of radioactive waste;
   1-16              (2)  require each shipper and transporter of
   1-17  radioactive waste to adopt an emergency plan approved by the
   1-18  department for responding to transportation accidents;
   1-19              (3)  require the notification and reporting of
   1-20  accidents to the department and to local emergency planning
   1-21  committees in the county where the accident occurs;
   1-22              (4)  require each shipper to adopt a quality control
   1-23  program approved by the department to verify that shipping
    2-1  containers are suitable for shipment to a licensed disposal
    2-2  facility; and
    2-3              (5)  assess a fee on shippers for shipments to a Texas
    2-4  low-level radioactive waste disposal facility of radioactive waste
    2-5  originating in Texas or out of state.
    2-6        (c)  In promulgating rules under this section, the board
    2-7  shall consult with the advisory board and the Texas Natural
    2-8  Resource Conservation Commission.
    2-9        (d)(1)  Fees assessed under this section shall:
   2-10                    (A)  not exceed $10 per cubic foot of shipped
   2-11  radioactive waste;
   2-12                    (B)  be collected by the authority and deposited
   2-13  to the credit of the radiation and perpetual care fund; and
   2-14                    (C)  be used exclusively by the department for
   2-15  emergency planning for and response to transportation accidents
   2-16  involving radioactive waste.
   2-17              (2)  Fee assessments under this section shall be
   2-18  suspended when the amount of fees collected reaches $500,000,
   2-19  except that if the balance of fees collected is reduced to $350,000
   2-20  or less, the assessments shall be reinstituted to bring the balance
   2-21  of fees collected to $500,000.
   2-22        (e)  In this section:
   2-23              (1)  "Shipper" means a person who generates low-level
   2-24  radioactive waste and ships or arranges with others to ship the
   2-25  waste to a disposal site.
    3-1              (2)  "Authority" means the Texas Low-level Radioactive
    3-2  Waste Disposal Authority.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-9  passage, and it is so enacted.