HBA-MPM C.S.S.B. 1306 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1306 By: Brown Environmental Regulation 5/11/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, hazardous waste is defined to mean any solid waste identified or listed as a hazardous waste by the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the amended federal Solid Waste Disposal Act. Recent court cases in Texas have challenged the constitutionality of a state law that has the effect of prospectively adopting, by reference, a federal statutory definition. C.S.S.B. 1306 amends state law to delete the prospective definition of "hazardous waste" as defined by federal law, to be replaced with a functional definition of hazardous waste derived from the federal criteria for defining or listing hazardous waste. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code) and to the Texas Railroad Commission in SECTION 2 (Section 91.601, Natural Resources Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 361.003(12), Health and Safety Code, to redefine "hazardous waste" as a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of various characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed; and is identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) as a hazardous waste, by rule, provided the rules implementing this subdivision shall be consistent with, and not more stringent than necessary to maintain state program authorization under, 42 U.S.C., Section 6901 et seq. (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976), as amended. Deletes text defining "hazardous waste" as that identified or listed as a hazardous waste by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act. SECTION 2. Amends Section 91.601(1), Natural Resources Code, to redefine "oil and gas hazardous waste" as an oil and gas waste or combination of both wastes, which because of certain characteristics may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of or otherwise managed; and is identified by the Texas Railroad Commission as a hazardous waste by rule, provided the rules implementing this subdivision shall be consistent with, and not more stringent than necessary to obtain or maintain state program authorization under 42 U.S.C., Section 6901 et seq., as amended. Deletes text defining "oil and gas hazardous waste" as that defined by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. SECTION 3.Emergency clause. Effective date: 90 days after adjournment. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.S.B. 1306 modifies the original bill in SECTION 1 (Section 361.003 (12), Health and Safety Code), to change the proposed definition of "hazardous waste." The original defined this term to include as a solid waste having each of three specific characteristics, as follows: _that it may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible, illness; _pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed; and _that it is identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) as a hazardous waste, by rule. The substitute, however, defines the term to provide that a solid waste is a "hazardous waste" if it has either of the first two characteristics in combination with the third, as follows: _that it may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible, illness; or _that it pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed; and _that is identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) as a hazardous waste, by rule. The substitute adds new SECTION 2. Please see the Section-by-Section Analysis in this document. The substitute replaces the long emergency clause in SECTION 2 of the original with the short emergency clause in SECTION 3 of the substitute.