By: Flores (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) H.B. No. 2252
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2003;
May 9, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
Resources; May 23, 2003, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 23, 2003, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to exemptions for certain individuals from cost recovery
actions and liens placed on homesteads by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 361.181(c), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) In this subchapter:
(1) "Facility" [, "facility"] means any building,
structure, installation, equipment, pipe, or pipeline (including
any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works, well, pit,
pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container,
motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft), or any site or area
where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed
of, or placed or otherwise come to be located. The term does not
include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel.
(2) "Homestead" has the meaning designated by Section
51, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
SECTION 2. Section 361.194(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) The lien imposed by this section arises and attaches to
the real property subject to or affected by a remedial action at the
time an affidavit is recorded and indexed in accordance with this
section in the county in which the real property is located. [The
executive director shall determine whether to prepare an affidavit.
In making the determination, the executive director shall proceed
in the manner that the executive director determines will most
likely result in the least overall costs to the state after any cost
recovery action.] For the purpose of determining rights of all
affected parties, the lien does not relate back to a time before the
date on which the affidavit is recorded, which date is the lien
inception date. The lien continues until the liability for the
costs is satisfied or becomes unenforceable through operation of
law. The executive director shall determine whether to prepare an
affidavit. In determining whether to prepare an affidavit or
whether a lien is satisfied, the executive director:
(1) shall proceed in the manner that the executive
director determines will most likely result in the least overall
costs to the state after any cost recovery action; and
(2) may take into account a landowner's financial
ability to satisfy the lien, including consideration of whether the
landowner received financial compensation for the disposal of any
substance addressed by the remedial action and whether the real
property that is the subject of the lien:
(A) is a homestead and is being occupied as a home
by the landowner; and
(B) has a fair market value of $250,000 or less.
SECTION 3. Section 361.197, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) The commission may not file a cost recovery action under
this section against an individual if the individual's only
significant asset is a homestead that:
(1) includes the facility subject to or affected by a
remedial action;
(2) is occupied by the individual as a home; and
(3) has a fair market value of $250,000 or less.
SECTION 4. Section 361.201, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
(d) The commission shall determine whether a potentially
responsible party is financially capable of conducting any
necessary remediation studies or remedial action if the responsible
party is an individual whose homestead includes the facility
subject to or affected by a remedial action.
(e) The commission by rule shall adopt criteria for
determining the financial capability of an individual under
Subsection (d). The rules must provide that the value of the
individual's homestead may not be included in the total amount of
the individual's assets if:
(1) the individual is occupying the homestead as a
home; and
(2) the fair market value of the homestead is $250,000
or less.
SECTION 5. (a) The change in law made by Sections 2 and 3 of
this Act applies to a lien affidavit prepared under Section
361.194, Health and Safety Code, or a cost recovery action filed
under Section 361.197, Health and Safety Code, by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality to recover money spent by the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a hazardous waste
remediation project that is completed under Subchapter F, Chapter
361, Health and Safety Code, on or after the effective date of this
Act.
(b) The change in law made by Section 4 of this Act applies
to a potential remediation project for which a remedial
investigation or feasibility study under Section 361.185, Health
and Safety Code, begins on or after the effective date of this Act.
(c) Not later than December 1, 2003, the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality shall adopt rules to implement the changes in
law made by Sections 361.181, 361.194, 361.197, and 361.201, Health
and Safety Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
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