1-1 By: Clark (Senate Sponsor - Bivins) H.B. No. 1479
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 23, 1999;
1-3 April 26, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Natural Resources; May 7, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0;
1-6 May 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1479 By: Bivins
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to wastewater discharge permits.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 26.028, Water Code, is amended to read as
1-13 follows:
1-14 Sec. 26.028. ACTION ON APPLICATION. (a) Notice of an
1-15 application for a permit, permit amendment, or permit renewal
1-16 [Except as provided in Subsections (b) and (c) of this section,
1-17 notice] shall be given to the persons who in the judgment of the
1-18 commission may be affected by the [an] application, except as
1-19 provided by this section [for a permit, permit amendment, or
1-20 renewal of a permit].
1-21 (b) For any application involving an average daily discharge
1-22 of five million gallons or more, the notice shall be given:
1-23 (1) not later than 20 days before the date on which
1-24 the commission acts on the application; and
1-25 (2) [,] to each county judge in the county or counties
1-26 located within 100 statute miles of the point of discharge who have
1-27 requested in writing that the commission give that notice and
1-28 through which water, into or adjacent to which waste or pollutants
1-29 are to be discharged under the permit, flows after the discharge.
1-30 (c) Except as otherwise provided by this section, the [The]
1-31 commission, on the motion of a commissioner, or on the request of
1-32 the executive director or any affected person, shall hold a public
1-33 hearing on the application for a permit, permit amendment, or
1-34 renewal of a permit.
1-35 (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the
1-36 commission, at a regular meeting without the necessity of holding a
1-37 public hearing, may approve an [(b) An] application to renew or
1-38 amend a permit if:
1-39 (1) the applicant is not applying to:
1-40 (A) increase significantly the quantity of waste
1-41 authorized to be discharged; or
1-42 (B) change materially the pattern or place of
1-43 discharge;
1-44 (2) the activities to be authorized by the renewed or
1-45 amended permit will maintain or [to] improve the quality of waste
1-46 authorized to be discharged;
1-47 (3) for NPDES permits, notice and the opportunity to
1-48 request a public meeting shall be given in compliance with NPDES
1-49 program requirements, and the commission shall consider and respond
1-50 to all timely received and significant public comment; and
1-51 (4) the commission determines that an applicant's
1-52 compliance history for the preceding five years raises no issues
1-53 regarding the applicant's ability to comply with a material term of
1-54 its permit [may be set for consideration and may be acted on by the
1-55 commission at a regular meeting without the necessity of holding a
1-56 public hearing if the applicant does not seek to increase
1-57 significantly the quantity of waste authorized to be discharged or
1-58 change materially the pattern or place of discharge].
1-59 (e) Notice of an [the] application under Subsection (d)
1-60 shall be mailed to the mayor and health authorities for the city or
1-61 town, and the county judge and health authorities for the county[,]
1-62 in which the waste is or will be discharged, at least 10 days
1-63 before the commission meeting, and they may present information to
1-64 the commission on the application.
2-1 (f) [(c)] An application to renew a permit for a confined
2-2 animal feeding operation which was issued between July 1, 1974, and
2-3 December 31, 1977, may be set for consideration and may be acted on
2-4 by the commission at a regular meeting without the necessity of
2-5 holding a public hearing if the applicant does not seek to
2-6 discharge into or adjacent to water in the state and does not seek
2-7 to change materially the pattern or place of disposal.
2-8 (g) [(d)] For the purposes of Subsection (c) [(a)], the
2-9 commission may act on the application without holding a public
2-10 hearing if all of the following conditions are met:
2-11 (1) not less than 30 days before the date of action on
2-12 the application by the commission, the applicant has published the
2-13 commission's notice of the application at least once in a newspaper
2-14 regularly published or circulated within each county where the
2-15 proposed facility or discharge is located and in each county
2-16 affected by the discharge;
2-17 (2) not less than 30 days before the date of action on
2-18 the application by the commission, the applicant has served or
2-19 mailed the commission's notice of the application to persons who in
2-20 the judgment of the commission may be affected, including the
2-21 county judges as required by Subsection (b) [(a)] of this section.
2-22 As part of his application the applicant shall submit an affidavit
2-23 which lists the names and addresses of the persons who may be
2-24 affected by the application and includes the source of the list;
2-25 (3) within 30 days after the date of the newspaper
2-26 publication of the commission's notice, neither a commissioner, the
2-27 executive director, nor an affected person who objects to the
2-28 application has requested a public hearing.
2-29 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-30 applies only to an application to renew or amend a wastewater
2-31 discharge permit under Chapter 26, Water Code, that was filed on or
2-32 after that date.
2-33 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-34 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-35 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-36 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-37 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-38 * * * * *