By Dukes                                              H.B. No. 2944
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to solid waste disposal fees.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 361.013, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-5  amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding new Subsections (h)
    1-6  and (i) to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  Except as provided by Subsections <Subsection> (e)
    1-8  through (i), the commission <department> shall charge a fee on all
    1-9  solid waste that is disposed of within this state.  The fee is
   1-10  $1.25 per ton received for disposal at a landfill if the solid
   1-11  waste is measured by weight.  If the solid waste is measured by
   1-12  volume, the fee for compacted solid waste is 40 cents per cubic
   1-13  yard or, for uncompacted solid waste, 25 cents per cubic yard
   1-14  received for disposal at a landfill.  The commission <department>
   1-15  shall set the fee for sludge or similar waste applied to the land
   1-16  for beneficial use on a dry weight basis and for solid waste
   1-17  received at an incinerator or a shredding and composting facility
   1-18  at half the fee set for solid waste received for disposal at a
   1-19  landfill.  The commission <department> may charge comparable fees
   1-20  for other means of solid waste disposal that are used.
   1-21        (h)  The commission may not charge a fee under Subsection (a)
   1-22  on solid waste resulting from a public entity's effort to protect
   1-23  the public health and safety of the community from the effects of a
    2-1  natural or man-made disaster or from structures that have been
    2-2  contributing to drug trafficking or other crimes if the disposal
    2-3  facility at which that solid waste is offered for disposal has
    2-4  donated to a municipality, county, or other political subdivision
    2-5  the cost of disposing of that waste.
    2-6        (i)  The commission may not charge a fee under Subsection (a)
    2-7  for:
    2-8              (1)  the disposal of Class I industrial solid waste or
    2-9  hazardous waste subject to the assessment of fees under Section
   2-10  361.136; or
   2-11              (2)  the disposal of an industrial solid waste for
   2-12  which no permit may be required under Section 361.090.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.