1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 814
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1999; March 4, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 March 11, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4,
1-5 Nays 0; March 11, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the reimbursement of the Railroad Commission of Texas
1-9 for costs incurred by the commission in relation to violations
1-10 relating to safety or the prevention or control of pollution.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 91.104, Natural Resources
1-13 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-14 (b) A person required to file a bond under Section 91.103
1-15 [of this code] may choose to file:
1-16 (1) an individual bond as provided under Section
1-17 91.1041 [of this code];
1-18 (2) a blanket bond as provided under Section 91.1042
1-19 [of this code];
1-20 (3) a nonrefundable annual fee of $100, if the person
1-21 can demonstrate to the commission an acceptable record of
1-22 compliance with all commission rules, orders, licenses, permits, or
1-23 certificates that relate to safety or the prevention or control of
1-24 pollution for the previous 48 months and the person and, if a firm,
1-25 partnership, joint stock association, corporation, or other
1-26 organization, its officers, directors, general partners, or owners
1-27 of more than 25 percent ownership interest or any trustee:
1-28 (A) has no outstanding violations of such
1-29 commission rules, orders, licenses, permits, or certificates;
1-30 (B) has paid all administrative, civil, and
1-31 criminal penalties, if any, relating to any violation of such
1-32 commission rules, orders, licenses, permits, or certificates; and
1-33 (C) has paid all reimbursements of any costs and
1-34 expenses incurred [assessed] by the commission in relation to any
1-35 violation of such commission rules, orders, licenses, permits, or
1-36 certificates;
1-37 (4) a nonrefundable annual fee equal to three percent
1-38 of the bond that otherwise would be required; or
1-39 (5) to give a first lien on tangible personal property
1-40 associated with oil and gas production whose salvage value equals
1-41 the value of an individual bond under Section 91.1041 [of this
1-42 code] or the value of a blanket bond under Section 91.1042 [of this
1-43 code] that otherwise would be required.
1-44 SECTION 2. Section 91.1091, Natural Resources Code, is
1-45 amended to read as follows:
1-46 Sec. 91.1091. REFUND. The commission shall refund the
1-47 proceeds from a bond or other form of security required under this
1-48 subchapter if:
1-49 (1) the conditions that caused the proceeds to be
1-50 collected are corrected;
1-51 (2) all administrative, civil, and criminal penalties
1-52 relating to those conditions are paid; and
1-53 (3) the commission has been reimbursed for all
1-54 [reimbursements of] costs and expenses incurred [assessed] by the
1-55 commission [to be collected] in relation to those conditions [are
1-56 collected].
1-57 SECTION 3. Subsection (d), Section 91.114, Natural Resources
1-58 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-59 (d) The commission shall accept the report or application or
1-60 approve the certificate if:
1-61 (1) the conditions that constituted the violation are
1-62 corrected or are being corrected in accordance with a schedule to
1-63 which the commission and the organization have agreed;
1-64 (2) all administrative, civil, and criminal penalties
2-1 and all cleanup and plugging costs incurred by the state [and
2-2 assessed or adjudged against the organization] relating to those
2-3 conditions are paid or are being paid in accordance with a payment
2-4 schedule to which the commission and the organization have agreed;
2-5 and
2-6 (3) the report, application, or certificate is in
2-7 compliance with all other requirements of law and commission rules.
2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-14 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-15 * * * * *