1-1     By:  Bosse (Senate Sponsor - Brown)                    H.B. No. 732
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1999;
 1-3     April 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Natural Resources; May 5, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to stormwater management and regulation by certain
 1-9     political subdivisions; providing a penalty.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 13, Local Government Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Chapter 422 to read as follows:
1-13        CHAPTER 422.  AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS TO
1-14                       REGULATE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT 
1-15           Sec. 422.001.  COUNTY OR DISTRICT SUBJECT TO CHAPTER.  This
1-16     chapter applies only to:
1-17                 (1)  a county with a population of 2.8 million or more;
1-18     or
1-19                 (2)  a district or authority created under Section 59,
1-20     Article XVI, Texas Constitution, that:
1-21                       (A)  has boundaries coterminous with a county
1-22     described by Subdivision (1); and
1-23                       (B)  is authorized to provide stormwater drainage
1-24     and flood control facilities.
1-25           Sec. 422.002.  GENERAL AUTHORITY.  A county, district, or
1-26     authority may take any necessary or proper action to comply with
1-27     the requirements of the stormwater permitting program under the
1-28     national pollutant discharge elimination system (Section 402,
1-29     Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1342)),
1-30     including:
1-31                 (1)  developing and implementing controls to reduce the
1-32     discharge of pollutants from any conveyance or system of conveyance
1-33     owned or operated by the county, district, or authority that is
1-34     designed for collecting or conveying stormwater;
1-35                 (2)  developing, implementing, and enforcing stormwater
1-36     management guidelines, design criteria, or rules to reduce the
1-37     discharge of pollutants into any conveyance or system of conveyance
1-38     owned or operated by the county, district, or authority that is
1-39     designed for collecting or conveying stormwater;
1-40                 (3)  assisting residents with the proper management of
1-41     used oil and toxic materials, including the holding of household
1-42     hazardous waste collection events; and
1-43                 (4)  developing and providing educational tools and
1-44     activities designed to reduce or lead to the reduction of the
1-45     discharge of pollutants into stormwater.
1-46           Sec. 422.003.  CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION.  (a)  A person who
1-47     violates a rule or order adopted by the county, district, or
1-48     authority under this chapter is liable to the county, district, or
1-49     authority for a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each
1-50     violation.  Each day a violation continues is considered a separate
1-51     violation for purposes of assessing the civil penalty.
1-52           (b)  A county, district, or authority may bring suit in a
1-53     district court to:
1-54                 (1)  restrain a violation or threatened violation of a
1-55     rule or order adopted by the county, district, or authority under
1-56     this chapter; or
1-57                 (2)  recover a civil penalty authorized by Subsection
1-58     (a).
1-59           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-60     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-61     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-62     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-63     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-64     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-1     passage, and it is so enacted.
 2-2                                  * * * * *