By Armbrister                                          S.B. No. 480
       74R4961 MI-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission of Texas
    1-3  over pipeline safety.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 6053-1, Revised Statutes, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 6053-1.  Transportation of gas and gas pipeline
    1-8  facilities; safety standards.  (A)  For the purpose of providing
    1-9  exclusive state control over safety standards and practices
   1-10  applicable to the transportation of gas and all gas pipeline
   1-11  facilities within the borders of this state to the maximum degree
   1-12  permissible under the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of
   1-13  1968 (49 U.S.C. Section 60101 et seq.) or any successor
   1-14  legislation, the Railroad Commission of Texas is hereby expressly
   1-15  granted the power to describe or adopt by regulation safety
   1-16  standards for all such transportation of gas and gas pipeline
   1-17  facilities which are not subject to exclusive federal control, to
   1-18  require record maintenance and reports and to inspect records and
   1-19  facilities to determine compliance with such safety standards, and,
   1-20  from time to time, to make certifications and reports and to take
   1-21  any other requisite action in accordance with <Section 5(a) of> the
   1-22  Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or any successor
   1-23  legislation.
   1-24        (B)  All terms employed in this Article which are defined in
    2-1  the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 shall have the
    2-2  definition prescribed therein.
    2-3        (C)  The Attorney General is authorized, on behalf of the
    2-4  Railroad Commission, to enforce said safety standards by injunction
    2-5  restraining violations thereof (including the restraint of
    2-6  transportation of gas or the operation of a pipeline facility). Any
    2-7  violation of such safety standards shall further be subject to a
    2-8  civil penalty, payable to the State of Texas, in an amount not to
    2-9  exceed $25,000 for each such violation for each day that such
   2-10  violation persists, except that the maximum civil penalty shall not
   2-11  exceed $500,000 for any related series of violations.  Any such
   2-12  civil penalty may be compromised by the Attorney General in
   2-13  consideration of the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of
   2-14  the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation,
   2-15  and the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve
   2-16  compliance after notification of violation.
   2-17        (D)  A municipality or county may not adopt or enforce an
   2-18  ordinance, resolution, or other requirement that establishes safety
   2-19  standards or practices applicable to facilities that are subject to
   2-20  regulation under this article or another state or federal law
   2-21  <Nothing in this Article shall be construed to reduce, limit or
   2-22  impair any power heretofore vested by law in any incorporated city,
   2-23  town or village>.
   2-24        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-2  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-3  passage, and it is so enacted.