By Jackson                                            H.B. No. 1826
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the approval of disposal system plans by the Texas
    1-3  Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 26.034, Water Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 26.034.  Approval of Disposal System Plans.  (a)  The
    1-8  commission may, on a case-by-case basis,  <shall> review and
    1-9  approve plans and specifications for <all> treatment facilities,
   1-10  sewer systems, and disposal systems that transport, treat, or
   1-11  dispose of primarily domestic wastes.
   1-12        (b)  Before beginning construction, every person who proposes
   1-13  to construct or materially alter the efficiency of any treatment
   1-14  works to which this section applies shall submit completed plans
   1-15  and specifications to the commission <for review and approval>.
   1-16        (c)  The commission by rule shall adopt standards to
   1-17  determine which plans and specifications the commission will review
   1-18  for approval.  If the commission excludes certain plans and
   1-19  specifications from review and approval, the commission shall
   1-20  require that a registered professional engineer submit the plans to
   1-21  the commission and make a finding that the plans and specifications
   1-22  are in substantial compliance with commission standards and that
   1-23  any deviation from those standards is based on the best
   1-24  professional judgment of the registered professional engineer.
    2-1        (d)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), the commission may
    2-2  not require plans and specifications for a sewer system that
    2-3  transports primarily domestic waste to be submitted to the
    2-4  commission from:
    2-5              (1)  a municipality if:
    2-6                    (A)  the municipality has its own internal
    2-7  engineering review staff;
    2-8                    (B)  the plans and specifications subject to
    2-9  review are prepared by private engineering consultants; and
   2-10                    (C)  the review is conducted by a registered
   2-11  professional engineer who is an employee of or consultant to the
   2-12  municipality separate from the private engineering consultant
   2-13  charged with the design of the plans and specifications under
   2-14  review; or
   2-15              (2)  an entity that is required by local ordinance to
   2-16  submit the plans and specifications for review and approval to a
   2-17  municipality.
   2-18        (e)  If the commission finds that a municipality's review and
   2-19  approval process does not provide for substantial compliance with
   2-20  commission standards, the commission shall require all plans and
   2-21  specifications reviewed by the municipality under Subsection (d) to
   2-22  be submitted to the commission for review and approval  <The
   2-23  commission shall approve the plans and specifications if they
   2-24  conform to the waste discharge requirements and water quality
   2-25  standards established by the commission>.
   2-26        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-27  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-4  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-5  passage, and it is so enacted.