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.