By:  Hinojosa                                                     S.B. No. 1130
	(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2005; March 21, 2005, read 
first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; 
April 11, 2005, reported adversely, with favorable Committee 
Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 11, 2005, 
sent to printer.)


COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1130                                   By:  Hinojosa

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a requirement that a common carrier or pipeline owner or operator report contamination. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 81, Natural Resources Code, is amended by adding Section 81.056 to read as follows: Sec. 81.056. CONTAMINATION REPORT. (a) In this section: (1) "Common carrier" has the meaning assigned by Section 111.002. (2) "Owner of the land" or "landowner" means the first person who is shown on the appraisal roll of the appraisal district established for the county in which a tract of land is located as owning an interest in the surface estate of the land at the time a contamination report is required to be made under this section. (b) If in the process of placing, repairing, replacing, or maintaining a pipeline a common carrier or an owner or operator of a pipeline observes or detects any petroleum-based contamination of soil or water in proximity to the pipeline, the common carrier or pipeline owner or operator shall report the contamination to the commission and the owner of the land on which the pipeline is located. (c) The contamination report: (1) must be made not later than 24 hours after the common carrier or pipeline owner or operator observes or detects the contamination; (2) must include the global positioning satellite coordinates of the location of the contamination; and (3) may be made by telephone, facsimile, or electronic mail. (d) After receiving the contamination report, the commission shall confirm to the common carrier or pipeline owner or operator and the landowner that the commission has received the report. The commission shall provide the confirmation by the same communication method by which the contamination report was made. (e) Not later than the third business day after the date the commission receives the contamination report, a person authorized by the commission shall withdraw a soil sample from the contaminated land. The person is entitled to enter the land for the purpose of withdrawing the sample. (f) A common carrier or pipeline owner or operator that makes a contamination report under this section is released from all liability for the contamination or the cleanup of the contamination covered by the report, except for any contamination caused by the common carrier or pipeline owner or operator. (g) The commission shall adopt rules to implement this section. SECTION 2. Subsection (f), Section 81.056, Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, is an exercise of authority under Subsection (c), Section 66, Article III, Texas Constitution, and takes effect only if this Act receives a vote of three-fifths of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Subsection (e) of that section. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
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