By: Truan S.B. No. 1676
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the responsibility of certain governmental entities or
1-2 corporations created by governmental entities under the Solid Waste
1-3 Disposal Act.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsections (g) and (h), Section 361.275, Health
1-6 and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (g) A person is not responsible under Section 361.271, as an
1-8 owner of real property, for solid waste existing at the time of
1-9 acquisition of the real property by the governmental entity or
1-10 corporation described below if the person can establish the
1-11 following by a preponderance of the evidence:
1-12 (1) that the person is a governmental entity, as
1-13 defined in Section 2252.001(2), Government Code, or a corporation
1-14 created by a governmental entity;
1-15 (2) that the governing body of the governmental entity
1-16 or the governing body of the governmental entity that created the
1-17 corporation specifically found and declared in a resolution
1-18 authorizing the acquisition of real property that:
1-19 (A) the real property is part of an area which
1-20 is principally residential in use or design;
1-21 (B) the real property is located in proximity to
1-22 industrial development;
1-23 (C) the area contains or is significantly
2-1 threatened with air, ground, or water pollution;
2-2 (D) use of the area for residential purposes is
2-3 incompatible with the proximate industrial development;
2-4 (E) the public health, safety, and welfare will
2-5 be promoted if the real property is acquired for nonresidential
2-6 purposes;
2-7 (F) the acquisition is part of a plan of the
2-8 public entity or corporation for terminating incompatible
2-9 residential or other uses in the area; and
2-10 (G) the proposed resolution was published in a
2-11 newspaper of general local circulation in the county in which the
2-12 property is located, at least 30 days before adoption of the
2-13 resolution;
2-14 (3) that the governing body filed its resolution with
2-15 the commission and the commission did not object in writing
2-16 delivered to the governing body within 30 days of receipt by the
2-17 commission; and
2-18 (4) that the properties acquired are restricted by
2-19 covenants running with the land, recorded in the deed records of
2-20 the county, and enforceable by the governmental entity, prohibiting
2-21 residential uses and specifically stating that the property was
2-22 acquired under this subsection.
2-23 (h) This section does not decrease the liability of a
2-24 previous owner or operator of a facility who is liable under this
2-25 chapter. If the defendant obtained actual knowledge of the release
3-1 or threatened release of a hazardous substance at a facility at the
3-2 time the defendant owned the real property on which the facility is
3-3 located and subsequently transferred ownership of the property to
3-4 another person without disclosing that knowledge, the defendant is
3-5 liable and a defense under this section is not available to the
3-6 defendant.
3-7 (i) <(h)> Subsections (e)-(h) <(e)-(g)> do not affect the
3-8 liability under this chapter of a defendant who, by an act or
3-9 omission, caused or contributed to the release or threatened
3-10 release of a hazardous substance that is the subject of the action
3-11 concerning the facility.
3-12 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-18 passage, and it is so enacted.