1-1  By:  Brimer (Senate Sponsor - Harris)                 H.C.R. No. 24
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House March 1, 1995;
    1-3  March 2, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
    1-4  Resources; April 28, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 1; April 28, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                      HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-7        WHEREAS, The enactment of the Water Pollution Control Act of
    1-8  1987, also known as the Clean Water Act, marked a renewed
    1-9  commitment and resolve by the federal government to purify and
   1-10  protect our nation's water; and
   1-11        WHEREAS, While the goals of the federal Clean Water Act are
   1-12  shared by the citizens of this country, a balance must be struck
   1-13  between the steps to be taken to reduce water contamination and the
   1-14  adverse impact those steps may have on individuals, the economy,
   1-15  and government; and
   1-16        WHEREAS, Under the Water Pollution Control Act, all
   1-17  municipalities with populations of less than 100,000 must obtain a
   1-18  permit from the Environmental Protection Agency for every
   1-19  stormwater discharge point in the city; and
   1-20        WHEREAS, This unfunded federal mandate on municipal
   1-21  stormwater discharges is estimated to cost cities across the
   1-22  country as much as $625,000 per permit; and
   1-23        WHEREAS, Thousands of cities will now have to grapple with
   1-24  the enormous costs, complexity, and liability of meeting this new,
   1-25  unfunded federal mandate; and
   1-26        WHEREAS, The failure of the United States Congress to provide
   1-27  adequate funding to implement the Clean Water Act and other federal
   1-28  legislation has placed state and local governments in the untenable
   1-29  position of attempting to fund the federal requirements with
   1-30  diminishing amounts of available revenue or, by failing to do so,
   1-31  jeopardizing state and local eligibility for certain federal funds;
   1-32  and
   1-33        WHEREAS, The 102nd Congress of the United States previously
   1-34  addressed the issue of unfunded mandates by enacting legislation
   1-35  that provided a two-year moratorium on unfunded state and local
   1-36  mandates, which included the municipal stormwater discharge
   1-37  mandate; and
   1-38        WHEREAS, The 103rd Congress adjourned without extending the
   1-39  moratorium, thus triggering the municipal stormwater discharge
   1-40  permit requirement; now, therefore, be it
   1-41        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
   1-42  hereby strongly urge the Congress of the United States to amend the
   1-43  Water Pollution Control Act to exempt cities with populations of
   1-44  less than 100,000 from obtaining permits from the Environmental
   1-45  Protection Agency for stormwater discharge points; and, be it
   1-46  further
   1-47        RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
   1-48  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
   1-49  the speaker of the house of representatives and president of the
   1-50  senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
   1-51  Texas delegation to the congress with the request that it be
   1-52  officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
   1-53  Congress of the United States of America.
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