1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to stormwater management and regulation by certain
1-3 political subdivisions; providing a penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 13, Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 422 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 422. AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS TO
1-8 REGULATE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
1-9 Sec. 422.001. COUNTY OR DISTRICT SUBJECT TO CHAPTER. This
1-10 chapter applies only to:
1-11 (1) a county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
1-12 or
1-13 (2) a district or authority created under Section 59,
1-14 Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that:
1-15 (A) has boundaries coterminous with a county
1-16 described by Subdivision (1); and
1-17 (B) is authorized to provide stormwater drainage
1-18 and flood control facilities.
1-19 Sec. 422.002. GENERAL AUTHORITY. A county, district, or
1-20 authority may take any necessary or proper action to comply with
1-21 the requirements of the stormwater permitting program under the
1-22 national pollutant discharge elimination system (Section 402,
1-23 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1342)),
1-24 including:
2-1 (1) developing and implementing controls to reduce the
2-2 discharge of pollutants from any conveyance or system of conveyance
2-3 owned or operated by the county, district, or authority that is
2-4 designed for collecting or conveying stormwater;
2-5 (2) developing, implementing, and enforcing stormwater
2-6 management guidelines, design criteria, or rules to reduce the
2-7 discharge of pollutants into any conveyance or system of conveyance
2-8 owned or operated by the county, district, or authority that is
2-9 designed for collecting or conveying stormwater;
2-10 (3) assisting residents with the proper management of
2-11 used oil and toxic materials, including the holding of household
2-12 hazardous waste collection events; and
2-13 (4) developing and providing educational tools and
2-14 activities designed to reduce or lead to the reduction of the
2-15 discharge of pollutants into stormwater.
2-16 Sec. 422.003. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION. (a) A person who
2-17 violates a rule or order adopted by the county, district, or
2-18 authority under this chapter is liable to the county, district, or
2-19 authority for a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each
2-20 violation. Each day a violation continues is considered a separate
2-21 violation for purposes of assessing the civil penalty.
2-22 (b) A county, district, or authority may bring suit in a
2-23 district court to:
2-24 (1) restrain a violation or threatened violation of a
2-25 rule or order adopted by the county, district, or authority under
2-26 this chapter; or
2-27 (2) recover a civil penalty authorized by Subsection
3-1 (a).
3-2 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-8 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 732 was passed by the House on April
8, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 732 was passed by the Senate on May
13, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor