By Brimer, Wohlgemuth, et al.                         H.C.R. No. 24
       74R2394 MPC-D
                                 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, The enactment of the Water Pollution Control Act of
    1-2  1987, also known as the Clean Water Act, marked a renewed
    1-3  commitment and resolve by the federal government to purify and
    1-4  protect our nation's water; and
    1-5        WHEREAS, While the goals of the federal Clean Water Act are
    1-6  shared by the citizens of this country, a balance must be struck
    1-7  between the steps to be taken to reduce water contamination and the
    1-8  adverse impact those steps may have on individuals, the economy,
    1-9  and government; and
   1-10        WHEREAS, Under the Water Pollution Control Act, all
   1-11  municipalities with populations of less than 100,000 must obtain a
   1-12  permit from the Environmental Protection Agency for every
   1-13  stormwater discharge point in the city; and
   1-14        WHEREAS, This unfunded federal mandate on municipal
   1-15  stormwater discharges is estimated to cost cities across the
   1-16  country as much as $625,000 per permit; and
   1-17        WHEREAS, Thousands of cities will now have to grapple with
   1-18  the enormous costs, complexity, and liability of meeting this new,
   1-19  unfunded federal mandate; and
   1-20        WHEREAS, The failure of the United States Congress to provide
   1-21  adequate funding to implement the Clean Water Act and other federal
   1-22  legislation has placed state and local governments in the untenable
   1-23  position of attempting to fund the federal requirements with
   1-24  diminishing amounts of available revenue or, by failing to do so,
    2-1  jeopardizing state and local eligibility for certain federal funds;
    2-2  and
    2-3        WHEREAS, The 102nd Congress of the United States previously
    2-4  addressed the issue of unfunded mandates by enacting legislation
    2-5  that provided a two-year moratorium on unfunded state and local
    2-6  mandates, which included the municipal stormwater discharge
    2-7  mandate; and
    2-8        WHEREAS, The 103rd Congress adjourned without extending the
    2-9  moratorium, thus triggering the municipal stormwater discharge
   2-10  permit requirement; now, therefore, be it
   2-11        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   2-12  hereby strongly urge the Congress of the United States to amend the
   2-13  Water Pollution Control Act to exempt cities with populations of
   2-14  less than 100,000 from obtaining permits from the Environmental
   2-15  Protection Agency for stormwater discharge points; and, be it
   2-16  further
   2-17        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   2-18  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   2-19  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   2-20  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   2-21  Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
   2-22  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   2-23  Congress of the United States of America.