By Lindsay                                             S.B. No. 488
         76R1882 JJT-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a county's jurisdiction over solid waste disposal.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 361.154(a), Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  Except as provided by Sections 361.151 and 361.152, a
 1-7     county may require and issue licenses authorizing and governing the
 1-8     operation and maintenance of facilities used to process, store, or
 1-9     dispose of solid waste, other than hazardous waste, in an area not
1-10     in the territorial limits [or extraterritorial jurisdiction] of a
1-11     municipality.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Section 361.162(a), Health and Safety Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (a)  Subject to the limitation under Sections 361.151 and
1-15     361.152, a county may designate land areas not in the territorial
1-16     limits [or extraterritorial jurisdiction] of a municipality as
1-17     suitable for use as solid waste facilities.
1-18           SECTION 3.  Section 361.165, Health and Safety Code, is
1-19     amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
1-20           (e)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b), this section does not
1-21     permit a municipality to restrict the siting of a solid waste
1-22     disposal facility in the municipality's extraterritorial
1-23     jurisdiction.
1-24           SECTION 4.  Section 361.166, Health and Safety Code, is
 2-1     amended to read as follows:
 2-2           Sec. 361.166.  MUNICIPAL RESTRICTIONS.  A municipality may
 2-3     not:
 2-4                 (1)  abolish or restrict the use or operation of a
 2-5     solid waste facility in its limits [or extraterritorial
 2-6     jurisdiction] if the solid waste facility:
 2-7                       (A) [(1)]  was in existence when the municipality
 2-8     was incorporated or was in existence when the municipality annexed
 2-9     the area in which it is located; and
2-10                       (B) [(2)]  is operated in substantial compliance
2-11     with applicable state and county regulations; or
2-12                 (2)  abolish, restrict the use or operation of, or
2-13     prohibit the location of a solid waste facility in its
2-14     extraterritorial jurisdiction unless the governing body of the
2-15     county in which the facility is located by resolution consents to
2-16     the municipality's action.
2-17           SECTION 5.  Section 364.011(a), Health and Safety Code, is
2-18     amended to read as follows:
2-19           (a)  Subject to the limitation provided by Sections 361.151
2-20     and 361.152 (Solid Waste Disposal Act), a commissioners court by
2-21     rule may regulate solid waste collection, handling, storage, and
2-22     disposal in any area [areas] of the county, including the
2-23     extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality, that is  not
2-24     inside the territorial limits [in a municipality or the
2-25     extraterritorial jurisdiction] of a municipality.
2-26           SECTION 6.  Sections 364.012(a) and (b), Health and Safety
2-27     Code, are amended to read as follows:
 3-1           (a)  The county by order or ordinance may prohibit the
 3-2     disposal of solid waste in any area of the county, including the
 3-3     extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality that is not inside
 3-4     the territorial limits of a municipality, if the disposal of the
 3-5     solid waste is a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.
 3-6           (b)  To prohibit the disposal of solid waste in a county, the
 3-7     commissioners court must adopt an ordinance in the general form
 3-8     prescribed for municipal ordinances specifically designating the
 3-9     area of the county in which solid waste disposal is not prohibited.
3-10     The area may include the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a
3-11     municipality.  The county is not required to designate an area in
3-12     which solid waste disposal is not prohibited [The requirement in
3-13     this subsection does not apply] if the county has adopted solid
3-14     waste disposal guidelines approved by the Texas Natural Resource
3-15     Conservation Commission that apply to the area that is subject to
3-16     the order or ordinance adopted under Subsection (a).
3-17           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-23     passage, and it is so enacted.