By Barrientos S.B. No. 1447
76R7554 SMJ-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirements for identifying former municipal
1-3 landfills and notifying the owners of the overlaying property.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 363.064, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 363.064. CONTENTS OF REGIONAL OR LOCAL SOLID WASTE
1-8 MANAGEMENT PLAN. (a) A regional or local solid waste management
1-9 plan must:
1-10 (1) include a description and an assessment of current
1-11 efforts in the geographic area covered by the plan to minimize
1-12 production of municipal solid waste, including sludge, and efforts
1-13 to reuse or recycle waste;
1-14 (2) identify additional opportunities for waste
1-15 minimization and waste reuse or recycling;
1-16 (3) include a description and assessment of existing
1-17 or proposed community programs for the collection of household
1-18 hazardous waste;
1-19 (4) make recommendations for encouraging and achieving
1-20 a greater degree of waste minimization and waste reuse or recycling
1-21 in the geographic area covered by the plan;
1-22 (5) encourage cooperative efforts between local
1-23 governments in the siting of landfills for the disposal of solid
1-24 waste;
2-1 (6) consider the need to transport waste between
2-2 municipalities, from a municipality to an area in the jurisdiction
2-3 of a county, or between counties, particularly if a technically
2-4 suitable site for a landfill does not exist in a particular area;
2-5 (7) allow a local government to justify the need for a
2-6 landfill in its jurisdiction to dispose of the solid waste
2-7 generated in the jurisdiction of another local government that does
2-8 not have a technically suitable site for a landfill in its
2-9 jurisdiction;
2-10 (8) establish recycling rate goals appropriate to the
2-11 area covered by the plan;
2-12 (9) recommend composting programs for yard waste and
2-13 related organic wastes that may include:
2-14 (A) creation and use of community composting
2-15 centers;
2-16 (B) adoption of the "Don't Bag It" program for
2-17 lawn clippings developed by the Texas Agricultural Extension
2-18 Service; and
2-19 (C) development and promotion of education
2-20 programs on home composting, community composting, and the
2-21 separation of yard waste for use as mulch;
2-22 (10) include an inventory of municipal solid waste
2-23 landfill units, including:
2-24 (A) landfill units no longer in operation;
2-25 (B) [,] the exact boundaries [location] of each
2-26 former landfill unit or, if the exact boundaries are not known, the
2-27 best approximation of each unit's boundaries;
3-1 (C) a map showing the approximate boundaries of
3-2 each former landfill unit, if the exact boundaries are not known;
3-3 (D) [such units,] the current owners of the land
3-4 on which the former landfill units were located;[,] and
3-5 (E) the current use of the land;
3-6 (11) assess the need for new waste disposal capacity;
3-7 (12) include a public education program; and
3-8 (13) include waste reduction in accordance with the
3-9 goal established under Section 361.0201(d), to the extent that
3-10 funds are available.
3-11 (b) If the exact boundaries of a municipal solid waste unit
3-12 that is no longer operating are known, the council of governments
3-13 for the area in which the former landfill unit is located [Each
3-14 council of governments] shall notify the owner of land that
3-15 overlays the [overlies a] former landfill [municipal solid waste]
3-16 unit [within the council of government's jurisdiction] of the
3-17 former use of the land and shall notify the county clerk of the
3-18 county or counties in which the former landfill unit is located of
3-19 the former use. The notice requirements of this subsection do not
3-20 apply if the exact boundaries of a former landfill unit are not
3-21 known.
3-22 (c) The county clerk shall record on the deed records of
3-23 land formerly used as a municipal solid waste landfill a
3-24 description of the exact boundaries of the former landfill unit or,
3-25 if the exact boundaries are not known, the best approximation of
3-26 each unit's boundaries [pertinent part of the land], notice of its
3-27 former use, and notice of the restrictions on the development or
4-1 lease of the land imposed by this subchapter. The county clerk
4-2 shall make the records available for public inspection.
4-3 (d) [(c)] The municipalities and counties within each
4-4 council of governments shall cooperate fully in compiling the
4-5 inventory of landfill units.
4-6 (e) [(d)] Each council of governments shall provide a copy
4-7 of the inventory of municipal solid waste landfill units to the
4-8 commission and to the chief planning official of each municipality
4-9 and county in which a unit is located. The commission and the
4-10 officials shall make the inventory available for public inspection.
4-11 (f) [(e)] The commission may grant money from fees collected
4-12 under Section 361.013 to a municipality or association of
4-13 municipalities for the purpose of conducting the inventory required
4-14 by this section.
4-15 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.