1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 509 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 15, 1999; February 16, 1999, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; 1-4 March 4, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, 1-5 Nays 0; March 4, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the immunity from liability of certain property owners 1-9 or operators if their property becomes environmentally 1-10 contaminated. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 361.753, Health and 1-13 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: 1-14 (a) A person may apply to the commission for a certificate 1-15 confirming that the person is an innocent owner or operator. The 1-16 application must include a complete site investigation report that 1-17 demonstrates that: 1-18 (1) the property has become contaminated as a result 1-19 of a release or migration of contaminants from a source or sources 1-20 not located on or at the property; 1-21 (2) the owner or operator has not caused or 1-22 contributed to the source or sources of the contamination referred 1-23 to in Subdivision (1); and 1-24 (3) if the applicant is a person who acquired the 1-25 property for which immunity is sought in the manner described by 1-26 Section 361.752(b), the owner or operator is eligible for immunity 1-27 under Section 361.752(b). 1-28 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 1-29 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-30 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-31 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-32 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-33 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-34 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-35 * * * * *