H.B. No. 1931
AN ACT
relating to pipeline safety emergency response plans and the
requirements governing notification of pipeline construction and
operation.
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) on written request from the school district,
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
(2) mail a copy of the requested items by certified
mail, return receipt requested, to the superintendent of the school
district in which the school building or facility is located
[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 or school district.
(m) The commission may not require the release of parts of
an emergency response plan that include security sensitive
information including maps or data. Security sensitive information
shall be made available for review by but not provided to the school
board.
SECTION 2. (a) Chapter 756, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subchapter G to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G. CONSTRUCTION AFFECTING PIPELINE EASEMENTS AND
RIGHTS-OF-WAY
Sec. 756.101. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Construction" means a building, structure,
driveway, roadway, or other construction any part of which is
physically located on, across, over, or under the easement or
right-of-way of a pipeline facility or that physically impacts or
creates a risk to a pipeline facility.
(2) "Constructor" means a person that builds,
operates, repairs, replaces, or maintains a construction or causes
a construction to be built, operated, repaired, maintained, or
replaced.
(3) "Pipeline facility" means a pipeline used to
transmit or distribute natural gas or to gather or transmit oil,
gas, or the products of oil or gas.
Sec. 756.102. APPLICABILITY. (a) This subchapter applies
to a construction or the repair, replacement, or maintenance of a
construction unless there is a written agreement, including a Texas
Department of Transportation right-of-way agreement, to the
contrary between the owner or operator of the affected pipeline
facility and the person that places or causes a construction to be
placed on the easement or right-of-way of a pipeline facility.
(b) This subchapter does not apply to:
(1) construction done by a municipality on property
owned by the municipality, unless the construction is for private
commercial use; or
(2) construction or repair, replacement, or
maintenance of construction on property owned by a navigation
district or port authority created or operating under Section 52,
Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
Sec. 756.103. PROHIBITION OF CONSTRUCTION WITHOUT NOTICE.
A person may not build, repair, replace, or maintain a construction
on, across, over, or under the easement or right-of-way for a
pipeline facility unless notice of the construction is given the
operator of the pipeline facility and:
(1) the operator of the pipeline facility determines
that the construction will not increase a risk to the public or
increase a risk of a break, leak, rupture, or other damage to the
pipeline facility;
(2) if the operator of the pipeline facility
determines that the construction will increase risk to the public
or the pipeline facility, the constructor pays the cost of the
additional fortifications, barriers, conduits, or other changes or
improvements necessary to protect the public or pipeline facility
from that risk before proceeding with the construction;
(3) the building, repair, replacement, or maintenance
is conducted under an existing written agreement; or
(4) the building, repair, replacement, or maintenance
is required to be done promptly by a regulated utility company
because of the effects of a natural disaster.
(b) The change in law made by Subchapter G, Chapter 756,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this section, applies only to an
activity described by Section 756.103, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this section, that is initiated on or after the effective
date of this Act.
(c) Section 756.102(b), Health and Safety Code, as added by
this section, does not affect litigation that is pending on the
effective date of this section and does not affect the rights or
obligations of a municipality, navigation district, or port
authority otherwise provided by law.
SECTION 3. Section 81.056, Natural Resources Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 4. This Act applies to a permit application that is
pending with the Railroad Commission of Texas on the effective date
of this Act or that is filed with the commission on or after that
date.
SECTION 5. 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 September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1931 was passed by the House on May 1,
2003, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1931 on May 29, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1931 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor