1-1     By:  Brown                                            S.B. No. 1390
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2001; March 13, 2001, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
 1-4     March 26, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 26, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the penalties for operating certain facilities without
 1-9     obtaining a permit under the Texas Clean Air Act.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter L, Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended
1-12     by adding Section 5.5145 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 5.5145.  EMERGENCY ORDER CONCERNING OPERATION OF
1-14     CONCRETE PLANT WITHOUT PERMIT.  The commission shall issue an
1-15     emergency order under this subchapter suspending operations of a
1-16     concrete plant that performs wet batching, dry batching, or central
1-17     mixing and is required to obtain a permit under Section 382.0518,
1-18     Health and Safety Code, and is operating without the necessary
1-19     permit.
1-20           SECTION 2.  Section 7.052, Water Code, is amended by adding a
1-21     new Subsection (b), relettering existing Subsection (b) as
1-22     Subsection (c), and  amending and relettering existing Subsection
1-23     (c) as Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-24           (b)  The amount of the penalty for operating a concrete plant
1-25     that performs wet batching, dry batching, or central mixing, that
1-26     is required to obtain a permit under Section 382.0518, Health and
1-27     Safety Code, and that is operating without the required permit is
1-28     $10,000.  Each day that a continuing violation occurs is a separate
1-29     violation.
1-30           (c)  The amount of the penalty for all other violations
1-31     within the jurisdiction of the commission to enforce may not exceed
1-32     $10,000 a day for each violation.
1-33           (d)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), each [(c)  Each]
1-34     day that a continuing violation occurs may be considered a separate
1-35     violation.  The commission may authorize an installment payment
1-36     schedule for an administrative penalty assessed under this
1-37     subchapter, except for an administrative penalty assessed under
1-38     Section 7.057 or assessed after a hearing under Section 7.058.
1-39           SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by Section 5.5145, Water
1-40     Code, as added by this Act, and Section 7.052, Water Code, as
1-41     amended by this Act, apply only to a violation that occurs on or
1-42     after the effective date of this Act.  A violation that occurs
1-43     before that date is governed by the law in effect at the time the
1-44     violation occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-45     that purpose.
1-46           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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