By Jackson H.B. No. 1826
74R5373 MI-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the approval of treatment, sewer, or disposal system
1-3 plans by the Texas 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. The standards must require the commission to
1-19 consider:
1-20 (1) the risk a project poses to human health, safety,
1-21 and the environment;
1-22 (2) the compliance status of the applicant; and
1-23 (3) whether the project is funded with public money.
1-24 (d) The commission may not require plans and specifications
2-1 for a treatment facility or a sewer or disposal system that treats,
2-2 transports, or disposes of primarily domestic waste to be
2-3 submitted from a person if the person has its own internal
2-4 engineering review staff or is required by local ordinance to
2-5 submit the plans and specifications to a political subdivision for
2-6 review and approval. An internal engineering review staff must be
2-7 separate from the engineering firm charged with the design of the
2-8 plans and specifications under review. Plans and specifications
2-9 must be reviewed and certified to be in compliance with commission
2-10 standards and waste discharge requirements before a reviewing
2-11 entity other than the commission may approve the plans and
2-12 specifications for construction.
2-13 (e) If the commission reviews the plans and specifications,
2-14 the <The> commission shall approve the plans and specifications if
2-15 they conform to the waste discharge requirements and water quality
2-16 standards established by the commission.
2-17 (f) In this section, "political subdivision" means a county,
2-18 a municipality, or a conservation and reclamation district or
2-19 authority established under Section 52, Article III, or Section
2-20 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
2-21 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27 passage, and it is so enacted.