1-1  By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 424
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed February 2, 1995; February 6, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
    1-4  March 15, 1995, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; March 15, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6  COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                           By:  Armbrister
    1-7  S.B. No. 424 is amended in Section 1 of the bill by adding the
    1-8  following sentence to Section 5.1175(c), Water Code, following the
    1-9  first sentence of that subsection (Introduced version page 1, line
   1-10  24; Committee Printing page 1, line 37):
   1-11        The period over which the penalty may be paid may not exceed
   1-12  12 months.
   1-13                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-14                                AN ACT
   1-15  relating to the payment in periodic installments of certain
   1-16  penalties owed by certain businesses for violations of law under
   1-17  the jurisdiction of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
   1-18  Commission.
   1-19        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-20        SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended
   1-21  by adding Section 5.1175 to read as follows:
   1-22        Sec. 5.1175.  PAYMENT OF PENALTY BY INSTALLMENT.  (a)  The
   1-23  commission by rule shall allow a small business that owes a
   1-24  monetary civil or administrative penalty imposed for a violation of
   1-25  law within the commission's jurisdiction or for a violation of a
   1-26  license, permit, or order issued or rule adopted by the commission
   1-27  to pay the penalty in periodic installments.  The rule must provide
   1-28  a procedure for a qualified small business to apply for permission
   1-29  to pay the penalty over time.
   1-30        (b)  The rule must classify small businesses by their net
   1-31  annual receipts and number of employees.  A business that is a
   1-32  wholly owned subsidiary of a corporation may not qualify as a small
   1-33  business under this section.
   1-34        (c)  The rule may vary the period over which the penalty may
   1-35  be paid or the amount of the periodic installments according to the
   1-36  amount of the penalty owed and the size of the business that owes
   1-37  the penalty.
   1-38        SECTION 2.  The Texas Natural Resource Conservation
   1-39  Commission shall adopt the rule required by Section 5.1175, Water
   1-40  Code, as added by this Act, to take effect as soon as is
   1-41  practicable but not later than January 1, 1996.
   1-42        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-43  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-44  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-45  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-46  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-47  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-48  passage, and it is so enacted.
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