By Dukes                                              H.B. No. 2945
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the state's source reduction and recycling goal.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 361.422(a), (d), and (e), Health and
    1-5  Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  It is the state's goal to reduce <by January 1, 1994,>
    1-7  the amount of municipal solid waste disposed of in this state by at
    1-8  least 40 percent through source reduction and recycling.
    1-9        (d)  For the purpose of measuring progress toward the state
   1-10  source reduction and recycling <municipal solid waste reduction>
   1-11  goal, the department shall use the weight of the total municipal
   1-12  solid waste stream in 1992 <1991> as the base year <a baseline> for
   1-13  comparison.  To compute progress toward the state source reduction
   1-14  and recycling <municipal solid waste reduction> goal for a year,
   1-15  the department shall compare the total number of tons disposed in
   1-16  the year under comparison, either by landfilling or by other
   1-17  disposal methods, to the weight of the total municipal solid waste
   1-18  stream <total number of tons disposed> in the base year, adjusting
   1-19  for changes in population, tons of solid waste imported and
   1-20  exported, and other relevant changes between the baseline year and
   1-21  the comparison year.
   1-22        Before January 1, 2001, the emission shall determine whether
   1-23  the goal established in subsection (a) is being achieved.  If the
    2-1  commission finds that the goal is not achieved, it
    2-2        <(e)  Before January 1, 1994, the commission shall determine
    2-3  whether the goal established in Subsection (a) is being achieved.
    2-4  If the commission finds that the goal is not being achieved, it>
    2-5  shall convene an advisory task force consisting of representatives
    2-6  of the commission, the General Land Office, local governments, the
    2-7  Municipal Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Advisory
    2-8  Council, and the commercial solid waste disposal industry. <and may
    2-9  recommend to the legislature a phased-in ban on the disposal of
   2-10  yard waste in a landfill.>  The task force shall recommend a plan
   2-11  to the legislature for reaching the goal established in subsection
   2-12  (a).  <The task force may recommend a plan to the legislature for
   2-13  implementing the ban after considering how the ban will.>
   2-14              <(1)  affect the state's disposal capacity,>
   2-15              <(2)  affect the economy of the state,>
   2-16              <(3)  affect local governments, and>
   2-17              <(4)  be accepted and adhered to by the citizens of the
   2-18  state.>
   2-19        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.