78S20086 SGA-F
By: Madden H.B. No. 36
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the environmental regulation and remediation of certain
dry cleaning facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 374.004(a), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The executive director shall appoint an advisory
committee composed of:
(1) three representatives of the dry cleaning industry
who shall provide professional and practical expertise to the
commission;
(2) two representatives who:
(A) are owners, developers, or managers of
shopping centers or are real property owners; and
(B) have had experience with the environmental
issues associated with dry cleaning facilities;
(3) one public representative of urban areas; and
(4) [(3)] one public representative of rural areas.
SECTION 2. Section 374.102(b), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Except for a carbon dioxide facility, the commission, on
receipt of a registration, shall bill the owner for a registration
[must be accompanied by a] fee of:
(1) $250 for:
(A) a dry cleaning facility with gross annual
receipts of $100,000 or less; or
(B) a dry cleaning facility designated as
nonparticipating under Section 374.104;
(2) $1,000 for a dry cleaning drop station, except
that the fee for a drop station is $250 if the drop station is not
owned by the owner of the dry cleaning facility; or
(3) $2,500 for a dry cleaning facility with gross
annual receipts of more than $100,000.
SECTION 3. Section 374.103(c), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(c) A person who distributes dry cleaning solvent may not
sell the solvent for use in a dry cleaning facility after January 1,
2004, unless the person first obtains and records the registration
number of the owner of the facility.
SECTION 4. Section 374.104, Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a-1) If the owner of the facility is not an owner of the
real property on which the facility is located, the option not to
participate must include proof that an owner of the real property
has:
(1) been notified of the option not to participate;
and
(2) agreed with the decision to file the option.
SECTION 5. Section 374.151(b), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(b) An owner [A person] who knows of a release over a 24-hour
period of more than one quart of a chlorinated dry cleaning solvent
or of more than one gallon of a non-chlorinated dry cleaning solvent
shall:
(1) immediately contain and control the release; and
(2) notify the commission of the release before the
expiration of 24 [48] hours after the owner [person] learns of the
release.
SECTION 6. Section 374.152(a), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(a) If a release or a potential release poses a threat to
human health or safety or to the environment, the commission shall:
(1) investigate and assess the extent of the resulting
contamination; and
(2) take necessary or appropriate emergency action to
ensure that human health or safety or the environment is not
threatened by the release or the potential release.
SECTION 7. Sections 374.154(b) and (c), Health and Safety
Code, as added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2003, are amended to read as follows:
(b) The following persons are eligible to apply for a site
to be ranked under Subsection (a):
(1) a person who is an owner of the dry cleaning
facility; and
(2) a person who is [and has been] an owner of the real
property on which the facility is located or on which a dry cleaning
facility previously existed [for not less than five years as of the
date the application for ranking is submitted].
(c) If the applicant for ranking:
(1) is not an owner of the real property, the
application must include proof that an owner of the real property
has:
(A) been notified of the application; and
(B) agreed with the decision to apply for the
ranking and the remediation of the site under this chapter; or
(2) is an owner of the real property and the facility
is leased, the application must include proof that a lessee has been
notified of the application.
SECTION 8. Section 374.203(c), Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
(c) The commission may not use money from the fund for
corrective action at a contaminated dry cleaning site unless[:
[(1)] the owner or the property owner of the site
applies for the ranking under Section 374.154 and is not otherwise
ineligible for corrective action under this chapter[; or
[(2) at the time corrective action is to begin, the
real property at the site has been under the same ownership for not
less than five years].
SECTION 9. Section 374.207, Health and Safety Code, as
added by H.B. No. 1366, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 374.207. ELIGIBLE OWNER EXEMPT FROM CERTAIN CLAIMS;
EXCEPTION. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), if [If] an
owner or other person is eligible under this chapter to have
corrective action costs paid by the fund, an administrative or
judicial claim may not be made under state law against the owner or
other person by or on behalf of this state or by any other person,
except a political subdivision, to compel corrective action or seek
recovery of the costs of corrective action that result from the
release.
(b) The owner of the real property on which a dry cleaning
facility is located may seek relief from the owner of the facility
under state law or common law for any losses, damages, or cleanup
costs incurred by the real property owner as a result of the
following circumstances:
(1) a release occurs at the dry cleaning facility;
(2) the commission is unable to timely take corrective
action; and
(3) the owner of the real property takes action to
prevent contamination from the release from moving off-site or to
otherwise respond to or remediate a release that could harm the
property, human health or safety, other tenants of the property, or
the environment.
SECTION 10. Sections 3(a) and (b), H.B. No. 1366, Acts of
the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, are amended to read as
follows:
(a) Not later than June [December] 1, 2004 [2003], the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt any rules,
performance standards, or forms required for the implementation of
Chapter 374, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Performance standards for new dry cleaning facilities
under Section 374.053, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act,
apply only to a dry cleaning facility first brought into use [on or]
after January [April] 1, 2004.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect December 1, 2003.