By Hilderbran H.B. No. 1287
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the approval of certain permit applications by state
1-3 agencies.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (a) The
1-6 legislature finds that current administrative practices often
1-7 result in unnecessary governmental regulatory delays that inhibit
1-8 the economic development of the state.
1-9 (b) The legislature intends to establish requirements
1-10 relating to the bureaucratic obstacles to the processing and
1-11 issuing of permits and approvals by state agencies to alleviate
1-12 bureaucratic obstacles to economic development.
1-13 SECTION 2. AMENDMENT. Subtitle A, Title 10, Government
1-14 Code, is amended by adding Chapter 2010 to read as follows:
1-15 CHAPTER 2010. STATE PERMITS
1-16 Sec. 2010.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-17 (1) "Permit" means a license, certificate, approval,
1-18 registration, consent, permit, or other form of authorization
1-19 required by law, rule, or regulation that a person must obtain to
1-20 perform an action or initiate a project for which a permit is
1-21 sought.
1-22 (2) "Project" means an endeavor over which a state
1-23 agency exerts its jurisdiction and for which one or more permits
1-24 are required to initiate or continue the endeavor.
2-1 (3) "State agency" means a bureau, department,
2-2 division, board, commission, or other agency of the state acting in
2-3 its capacity of processing, approving, or issuing a permit.
2-4 Sec. 2010.002. UNIFORMITY OF REQUIREMENTS. (a) Each state
2-5 agency shall consider the approval, disapproval, or conditional
2-6 approval of an application for a permit solely on the basis of any
2-7 orders, regulations, rules, expiration dates, or other properly
2-8 adopted requirements in effect at the time the original application
2-9 for the permit is filed.
2-10 (b) After an application for a permit is filed, a state
2-11 agency may not shorten the duration of any permit required for the
2-12 project.
2-13 (c) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the
2-14 contrary, an applicant for a permit may take advantage of a
2-15 regulation that has changed after application for the permit was
2-16 made, including changes that lengthen the effective life of the
2-17 permit after the date the application for the permit was made,
2-18 without forfeiting any rights under this chapter.
2-19 Sec. 2010.003. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. This chapter
2-20 applies only to a project in progress on or commenced after
2-21 September 1, 1997. For purposes of this chapter a project was in
2-22 progress on September 1, 1997, if:
2-23 (1) before September 1, 1997:
2-24 (A) a regulatory agency approved or issued one
2-25 or more permits for the project; or
2-26 (B) an application for the project was filed
2-27 with a regulatory agency; and
3-1 (2) on or after September 1, 1997, a regulatory agency
3-2 enacts or otherwise imposes:
3-3 (A) an order, regulation, ordinance, or rule
3-4 that in effect retroactively shortens the duration of a permit for
3-5 the project;
3-6 (B) a deadline for obtaining a permit required
3-7 to continue or complete the project that did not exist before
3-8 September 1, 1997; or
3-9 (C) any requirement for the project that was not
3-10 applicable to the project before September 1, 1997.
3-11 Sec. 2010.004. EXEMPTIONS. (a) This chapter does not apply
3-12 to:
3-13 (1) a permit issued in connection with a form of
3-14 gaming or gambling;
3-15 (2) a permit issued under Title 2, Tax Code;
3-16 (3) a permit issued under a program for which a state
3-17 regulatory agency has received authorization, delegation, or
3-18 approval from the federal government to implement an equivalent
3-19 state program in lieu of or as part of the federal program;
3-20 (4) state laws, including rules, regulations, or other
3-21 requirements affecting colonias;
3-22 (5) regulations to prevent imminent destruction of
3-23 property or injury to persons; or
3-24 (6) construction standards for public works located on
3-25 state lands or easements.
3-26 (b) The provisions of this chapter do not apply to a permit
3-27 issued by the Railroad Commission of Texas.
4-1 Sec. 2010.005. EFFECT ON COASTAL MANAGEMENT PLANS. This
4-2 chapter does not limit or otherwise affect the authority of a
4-3 political subdivision, the state, or an agency of the state with
4-4 respect to the implementation or enforcement of an ordinance, a
4-5 rule, or a statutory standard of a program, plan, or ordinance that
4-6 was adopted under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972
4-7 (16 U.S.C. Section 1451 et seq.) or Subtitle E, Title 2, Natural
4-8 Resources Code.
4-9 Sec. 2010.006. ENFORCEMENT OF CHAPTER. This chapter may be
4-10 enforced only through mandamus or declaratory or injunctive relief.
4-11 SECTION 3. EFFECT ON JUDICIAL PROCEEDING. This Act does not
4-12 affect the rights or remedies of any person or entity under a final
4-13 judgment rendered by a court before the effective date of this
4-14 Act, or in any litigation pending in a court on the effective date
4-15 of this Act, involving an interpretation of Subchapter I, Chapter
4-16 481, Government Code, as it existed before its repeal by the 75th
4-17 Legislature.
4-18 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
4-19 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-24 passage, and it is so enacted.