By Jackson                                            H.B. No. 1623
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the elimination of dual permitting for wastewater
    1-3  discharges.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 26.121, Water Code, (Text of section
    1-6  effective until delegation of NPDES permit authority), is amended
    1-7  by adding subsections (f) through (h), to read as follows:
    1-8        (f)  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this chapter
    1-9  or any other chapter of this Code or the laws of this state, no
   1-10  permit issued by the commission for the discharge of waste,
   1-11  wastewater, sewage, municipal waste, recreational waste, or
   1-12  industrial waste or pollutants, into or adjacent to water in the
   1-13  state shall be required of a person who possesses a valid permit
   1-14  from the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued
   1-15  pursuant to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
   1-16  provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.A.
   1-17  Sec. 1342) for the same discharge, and such permit issued by the
   1-18  United States Environmental Protection Agency shall be the permit
   1-19  issued by the commission for all purposes of law other than the
   1-20  collection of fees, as described in subsection (h) of this section.
   1-21        (g)  Permits heretofore issued by the commission for a
   1-22  discharge for which a permit has also been issued by the United
   1-23  States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the National
    2-1  Pollutant Discharge Elimination System shall expire and become null
    2-2  and void on the effective date of this Act.
    2-3        (h)  The commission may collect no fee, including but not
    2-4  limited to the waste treatment inspection fee provided in Sec.
    2-5  26.0291 of this Code, for any permit issued by the United States
    2-6  Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the National Pollutant
    2-7  Discharge Elimination System or for any permit issued by the
    2-8  commission for the same discharge.
    2-9        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.