By Rabuck H.B. No. 325
74R282 JJT-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring public notice and a public meeting before the
1-3 issuance or renewal of a license or general license acknowledgment
1-4 authorizing the storage of radioactive material.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 401, Health and Safety
1-7 Code, is amended by adding Section 401.1075 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 401.1075. PUBLIC MEETING. (a) The board or the Texas
1-9 Natural Resource Conservation Commission, as appropriate, shall
1-10 hold a public meeting on an application given to the agency for:
1-11 (1) a new license or a general license acknowledgment
1-12 or similar document that authorizes an activity that involves the
1-13 storage of radioactive material; or
1-14 (2) renewal of a license or a general license
1-15 acknowledgment or similar document that authorizes an activity that
1-16 involves the storage of radioactive material.
1-17 (b) The meeting shall be held in the county in which the
1-18 radioactive material is to be stored.
1-19 (c) A public meeting under this section is not a contested
1-20 case hearing under Chapter 2001, Government Code.
1-21 (d) An applicant for a license, a general license
1-22 acknowledgment, or a similar document that authorizes an activity
1-23 that involves the storage of radioactive material or an applicant
1-24 for renewal of one of those documents shall publish notice of the
2-1 application and public meeting in the newspaper of largest general
2-2 circulation in the county in which the radioactive material is to
2-3 be stored. The notice must:
2-4 (1) be published at least once in each of the four
2-5 weeks preceding the public meeting;
2-6 (2) name the applicant and give the address of the
2-7 applicant, including the address of the applicant's corporate
2-8 office, if any;
2-9 (3) state the location where the radioactive material
2-10 is to be stored, including the street address of the facility, the
2-11 name of the county, and the commissioners court precinct;
2-12 (4) state the location where copies of the application
2-13 may be obtained;
2-14 (5) describe the storage activity and materials to be
2-15 stored;
2-16 (6) give the time and place of the public meeting; and
2-17 (7) be of at least 98 square centimeters or 15 square
2-18 inches in size, with the shortest dimension being at least 7.6
2-19 centimeters or three inches.
2-20 (e) The applicant shall provide the responsible agency an
2-21 affidavit certifying that the notice was given as required by this
2-22 section.
2-23 (f) The responsible agency shall consider the public
2-24 testimony and evidence given at the public hearing when deciding
2-25 the conditions of, or whether to issue or renew, a license or
2-26 general license acknowledgment subject to this section.
2-27 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than January 1, 1996, the Texas
3-1 Board of Health and the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
3-2 Commission shall adopt rules governing the public notice of an
3-3 application for a license, general license acknowledgment, or other
3-4 documentation required by Section 401.1075, Health and Safety Code,
3-5 as added by this Act.
3-6 (b) The notice described by Section 401.1075, Health and
3-7 Safety Code, as added by this Act, is required only for an
3-8 application made on or after January 1, 1996.
3-9 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.