1-1 By: Armbrister S.B. No. 480
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 6, 1995; February 8, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 February 21, 1995, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; February 21, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Armbrister
1-7 Amend Senate Bill 480, Page 2, Line 17, Section 1, by replacing (D)
1-8 with the following:
1-9 (D) A municipality or county may not adopt or enforce an
1-10 ordinance that establishes safety standards or practices applicable
1-11 to facilities that are regulated under this Article or another
1-12 state or federal law. Except as provided herein, nothing <Nothing>
1-13 in this Article shall be construed to reduce, limit, or impair any
1-14 power heretofore vested by law in any incorporated city, town, or
1-15 village or the ability to adopt ordinances that establish
1-16 conditions for mapping, inventorying, installing, or relocating
1-17 pipelines over, under, along, or across public streets and alleys
1-18 or private residential areas within the boundaries of the city or
1-19 the ability to establish conditions for mapping or inventorying in
1-20 other areas within a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction.
1-21 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-22 AN ACT
1-23 relating to the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission of Texas
1-24 over pipeline safety.
1-25 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-26 SECTION 1. Article 6053-1, Revised Statutes, is amended to
1-27 read as follows:
1-28 Art. 6053-1. Transportation of gas and gas pipeline
1-29 facilities; safety standards. (A) For the purpose of providing
1-30 exclusive state control over safety standards and practices
1-31 applicable to the transportation of gas and all gas pipeline
1-32 facilities within the borders of this state to the maximum degree
1-33 permissible under the federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of
1-34 1968 (49 U.S.C. Section 60101 et seq.) or any successor
1-35 legislation, the Railroad Commission of Texas is hereby expressly
1-36 granted the power to describe or adopt by regulation safety
1-37 standards for all such transportation of gas and gas pipeline
1-38 facilities which are not subject to exclusive federal control, to
1-39 require record maintenance and reports and to inspect records and
1-40 facilities to determine compliance with such safety standards, and,
1-41 from time to time, to make certifications and reports and to take
1-42 any other requisite action in accordance with <Section 5(a) of> the
1-43 Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 or any successor
1-44 legislation.
1-45 (B) All terms employed in this Article which are defined in
1-46 the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 shall have the
1-47 definition prescribed therein.
1-48 (C) The Attorney General is authorized, on behalf of the
1-49 Railroad Commission, to enforce said safety standards by injunction
1-50 restraining violations thereof (including the restraint of
1-51 transportation of gas or the operation of a pipeline facility).
1-52 Any violation of such safety standards shall further be subject to
1-53 a civil penalty, payable to the State of Texas, in an amount not to
1-54 exceed $25,000 for each such violation for each day that such
1-55 violation persists, except that the maximum civil penalty shall not
1-56 exceed $500,000 for any related series of violations. Any such
1-57 civil penalty may be compromised by the Attorney General in
1-58 consideration of the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of
1-59 the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation,
1-60 and the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve
1-61 compliance after notification of violation.
1-62 (D) A municipality or county may not adopt or enforce an
1-63 ordinance, resolution, or other requirement that establishes safety
1-64 standards or practices applicable to facilities that are subject to
1-65 regulation under this Article or another state or federal law
1-66 <Nothing in this Article shall be construed to reduce, limit or
1-67 impair any power heretofore vested by law in any incorporated city,
1-68 town or village>.
2-1 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-7 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-8 * * * * *