By Brown                                               S.B. No. 509
         76R4287 MXM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the immunity from liability of certain property owners
 1-3     or operators if their property becomes environmentally
 1-4     contaminated.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 361.753(a), Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended to read as follows:
 1-8           (a)  A person may apply to the commission for a certificate
 1-9     confirming that the person is an innocent owner or operator.  The
1-10     application must include a complete site investigation report that
1-11     demonstrates that:
1-12                 (1)  the property has become contaminated as a result
1-13     of a release or migration of contaminants from a source or sources
1-14     not located on or at the property;
1-15                 (2)  the owner or operator has not caused or
1-16     contributed to the source or sources of the contamination referred
1-17     to in Subdivision (1); and
1-18                 (3)  if the applicant is a person who acquired the
1-19     property for which immunity is sought in the manner described by
1-20     Section 361.752(b), the owner or operator is eligible for immunity
1-21     under Section 361.752(b).
1-22           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.