By:  Ratliff                                           S.B. No. 271
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the applicant-violator system of the Texas Surface Coal
    1-2  Mining and Reclamation Act.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 6, Texas Surface Coal
    1-5  Mining and Reclamation Act (Article 5920-11, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-6  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (b)  The process of making and amending rules and issuing
    1-8  permits shall be pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act
    1-9  (Chapter 2001, Government Code) <and Texas Register Act, as
   1-10  amended>.  The Administrative Procedure Act does not apply to
   1-11  actions by the commission to suspend or rescind an improvidently
   1-12  issued permit as authorized by Section 21a of this Act, except that
   1-13  a permittee who is the subject of a suspension or rescission notice
   1-14  issued by the commission under Section 21a of this Act may file an
   1-15  appeal for administrative review of the notice as provided by
   1-16  commission rules, and such review shall be governed by the
   1-17  Administrative Procedure Act.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 21, Texas Surface Coal
   1-19  Mining and Reclamation Act (Article 5920-11, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-20  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   1-21        (c)  The applicant shall file, with his or her application, a
   1-22  schedule listing any and all notices of violations of this Act, the
   1-23  Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended (30
    2-1  U.S.C. Section 1201), and any other law, rule, or regulation of the
    2-2  United States, or the State of Texas, or of any department or
    2-3  agency in the United States pertaining to air or water
    2-4  environmental protection incurred by the applicant in connection
    2-5  with any surface coal mining operation <within the state> during
    2-6  the three-year period prior to the date of application, and <shall
    2-7  include in> the schedule shall indicate<,> the final resolution of
    2-8  any such notice of violation.  The schedule required by this
    2-9  subsection shall include notices of violations of federal
   2-10  regulations or federal or state programs adopted under the Surface
   2-11  Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended (30 U.S.C.
   2-12  Section 1201).  If the schedule or other information available to
   2-13  the commission indicates that any surface coal mining operation
   2-14  owned or controlled by the applicant is currently in violation of
   2-15  this Act or other laws referred to in this subsection, the permit
   2-16  shall not be issued until the applicant submits proof that the
   2-17  violation has been corrected or is in the process of being
   2-18  corrected to the satisfaction of the commission, department, or
   2-19  agency that has jurisdiction over the violation <or that the notice
   2-20  of violation is being contested by the applicant>, and no permit
   2-21  shall be issued to any applicant after a finding by the commission,
   2-22  after opportunity for hearing, that the applicant, or the operator
   2-23  specified in the application, controls or has controlled mining
   2-24  operations with a demonstrated pattern of wilful violations of this
   2-25  Act or other laws referred to in this subsection of such nature and
    3-1  duration with such resulting irreparable damage to the environment
    3-2  as to indicate an intent not to comply with this Act or other laws
    3-3  referred to in this subsection.
    3-4        SECTION 3.  The Texas Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act
    3-5  (Article 5920-11, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by
    3-6  adding Section 21a to read as follows:
    3-7        Sec. 21a.  SUSPENSION OR RESCISSION OF IMPROVIDENTLY ISSUED
    3-8  PERMITS.  The commission is authorized to adopt and enforce rules
    3-9  relating to suspension or rescission of improvidently issued
   3-10  permits that are consistent with and no less effective than federal
   3-11  regulations adopted under the Surface Mining Control and
   3-12  Reclamation Act of 1977, as amended (30 U.S.C. Section 1201).
   3-13        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   3-14        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.