H.B. 2576 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 2576 By: Baxter Regulated Industries Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Vast amounts of municipal solid waste are daily buried in landfills in Texas that could be converted to electric energy with proper incentives. Converting municipal solid waste to energy could help meet two critical needs of Texas; vastly reduce the volume of waste going into landfills and help conserve a finite supply of fossil fuels now used to produce electric energy. Chapter 363, Health and Safety Code, cited as the Comprehensive Municipal Solid Waste Management, Resource Recovery, and Conservation Act, states that it is the public policy of Texas "to protect the environment by encouraging the reduction in solid waste generation and the proper management of solid waste, including disposal and processing to extract usable materials or energy." HB 2576 provides for a pilot program to encourage the development of waste-to-energy technology. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS HB 2576 amends Chapter 363, Health and Safety Code by adding Subchapter H to provide that a retail electric provider, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative may credit toward satisfaction of the requirements for renewable energy provided for in Section 39.904 of the Utilities Code any production or acquisition of electric energy produced by a waste-to-energy technology. This credit cannot exceed 50 megawatts in total for all providers. "Waste-to-energy technology" is defined as any technology that relies on energy derived from municipal solid waste. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003.