By:  West                                                         H.B. No. 1594



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requirements for emergency response plans relating to 
pipeline safety.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 117.012, Natural Resources Code, is 
amended by amending Subsections (h), (i), and (k) and adding 
Subsections (l) and (m) to read as follows:
	(h)  The commission shall require operators or their 
designated representatives to communicate and conduct liaison 
activities with fire, police, and other appropriate public 
emergency response officials.  The liaison activities must be 
conducted by meetings in person except as provided by this section.  
An operator or the operator's representative may conduct required 
community liaison activities as provided by Subsection (i) only if 
the operator or the operator's representative has made an effort, 
by one of the following methods, [the following efforts] to conduct 
a community liaison meeting in person with the officials:
		(1)  mailing a written request for a meeting in person 
to the appropriate officials by certified mail, return receipt 
requested;
		(2)  sending a request for a meeting in person to the 
appropriate officials by facsimile transmission; or [and]
		(3)  making one or more telephone calls or e-mail 
message transmissions to the appropriate officials to request a 
meeting in person.
	(i)  If the operator or operator's representative cannot 
arrange a meeting in person after complying with Subsection (h), 
the operator or the operator's representative shall make an effort, 
by one of the following methods, [the following efforts] to conduct 
community liaison activities by means of a telephone conference 
call with the officials:
		(1)  mailing a written request for a telephone 
conference to the appropriate officials by certified mail, return 
receipt requested;
		(2)  sending a request for a telephone conference to 
the appropriate officials by facsimile transmission; or [and]
		(3)  making one or more telephone calls or e-mail 
message transmissions to the appropriate officials to request a 
telephone conference.
	(k)  The commission by rule shall require the owner or 
operator of each interstate or intrastate hazardous liquid or 
carbon dioxide pipeline facility any part of which is located 
within 1,000 feet of a public school building containing 
classrooms, or within 1,000 feet of another public school facility 
where students congregate, to:
		(1)  develop an emergency response plan in consultation 
with the fire department in whose jurisdiction the school is 
located or another local emergency response entity;
		(2)  provide in writing the following parts of a 
pipeline emergency response plan that are relevant to the school:
			(A)  a description and map of the pipeline 
facilities that are within 1,000 feet of the school building or 
facility;
			(B)  a list of any product transported in the 
segment of the pipeline that is within 1,000 feet of the school 
facility;
			(C)  the designated emergency number for the 
pipeline facility operator;
			(D)  information on the state's excavation 
one-call system; and     
			(E)  information on how to recognize, report, and 
respond to a product release [develop an emergency response plan in 
consultation with the fire department in whose jurisdiction the 
school is located or another local emergency response entity]; and
		(3)  mail a copy of the items by certified mail, return 
receipt requested, to the superintendent of the school district in 
which the school building or facility is located [(2)  present the 
plan:
			[(A)  at the first annual budget meeting of the 
board of trustees of the school district in which the school is 
located after the plan is developed; and
			[(B)  at subsequent annual budget meetings of the 
board of trustees of the school district on the request of the 
board].
	(l)  A pipeline operator or the operator's representative 
shall appear at a regularly scheduled meeting of the school board to 
explain the items listed in Subsection (k) if requested by the 
school board.
	(m)  The commission may not require the release of parts of 
an emergency response plan that describe the technical details of 
vulnerabilities of the pipeline to an act of terrorism.  Security 
sensitive information shall be made available for review by but not 
provided to the school board.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.