78R1696 SGA-D

By:  Shapleigh                                                    S.B. No. 397


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the requirement of a public hearing for certain applicants seeking the issuance, amendment, or renewal of air quality permits. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 382.056, Health and Safety Code, is amended by amending Subsection (o) and adding Subsection (o-1) to read as follows: (o) Notwithstanding other provisions of this chapter, the commission: (1) may hold a hearing on a permit amendment, modification, or renewal if the commission determines that the application involves a facility for which the applicant's compliance history is in the lowest classification under Sections 5.753 and 5.754, Water Code, and rules adopted and procedures developed under those sections; and (2) shall hold a hearing on an application for the issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit if the administrator has designated the applicant a potentially responsible party under Section 9607(a), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Section 9607(a)), as amended. (o-1) For a public hearing required under Subdivision (o)(2), the executive director shall: (1) provide notice of the hearing in the manner described by Subsection (a); and (2) hold the hearing in the community in which the facility or federal source that is the subject of the application is located or proposed to be located in order to: (A) inform the public about the application for the issuance, amendment, or renewal of the permit; and (B) obtain public input. SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003. (b) The change in law made by the amendment of Section 382.056(o), Health and Safety Code, and the addition of Section 382.056(o-1), Health and Safety Code, by this Act, applies only to an application for the issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, on or after September 1, 2003.