By Rabuck                                        H.B. No. 454

      75R3100 JJT-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to requiring public notice of an application for an

 1-3     authorization to store certain radioactive waste.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 401, Health and Safety

 1-6     Code, is amended by adding Section 401.154 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 401.154.  NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE

 1-8     STORAGE.  (a)  The board and the commission each by rule shall

 1-9     require an applicant for authorization under the board's or

1-10     commission's jurisdiction to store radioactive waste at a new site

1-11     to publish notice of the application in a newspaper of general

1-12     circulation in the county in which the proposed storage site is

1-13     located.  The notice must:

1-14                 (1)  be published not earlier than three days before

1-15     the date the application is filed and not later than the date the

1-16     application is filed;

1-17                 (2)  name the applicant;

1-18                 (3)  provide the applicant's mailing address;

1-19                 (4)  provide the location where the waste is proposed

1-20     to be stored, including the street address of the site, the name of

1-21     the county, and the commissioners court precinct;

1-22                 (5)  describe the storage activity and the waste

1-23     proposed to be stored;

1-24                 (6)  state that the public has the right to attend any

 2-1     hearing on the matter of the authorization; and

 2-2                 (7)  give the telephone number and address of the

 2-3     department or the commission, as applicable, for the public to

 2-4     request information on the date, time, and place of any hearing on

 2-5     the matter of the authorization.

 2-6           (b)  This section does not apply to an application for

 2-7     authorization to store radioactive waste:

 2-8                 (1)  with a half-life of less than 300 days; or

 2-9                 (2)  that is an encapsulated special form radioactive

2-10     material as defined by 49 CFR Section 173.403.

2-11           (c)  This section does not apply to:

2-12                 (1)  a United States Department of Energy facility that

2-13     is engaged in the disassembly of nuclear weapons and that, on

2-14     September 1, 1997, is subject to a state and federal agreement; or

2-15                 (2)  the storage of naturally occurring radioactive

2-16     material waste or of oil and gas NORM waste.

2-17           SECTION 2.  The Texas Board of Health and the Texas Natural

2-18     Resource Conservation Commission shall adopt rules to implement and

2-19     enforce Section 401.154, Health and Safety Code, as added by this

2-20     Act.  The rules must take effect not later than January 1, 1998.

2-21           SECTION 3.  (a)  Section 1 of this Act takes effect January

2-22     1, 1998.

2-23           (b)  Section 2 of this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-24           SECTION 4.  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.