By: Staples S.B. No. 1740
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to construction activities allowed while an application is
pending with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 382.004 to read as follows:
Sec. 382.004. CONSTRUCTION WHILE PERMIT APPLICATION
PENDING. (a) To the extent permissible under federal law and
notwithstanding Section 382.0518, a person who submits an
application for a permit for a modification of or a lesser change to
an existing facility under this subtitle may, at the person's own
risk, begin construction related to the application after the
application is submitted and before the commission has issued the
permit.
(b) The commission may not consider construction begun
under this section in determining whether to grant the permit
sought in the application.
SECTION 2. Section 382.004, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to an application for a permit
issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that is
submitted to the commission on or after the effective date of this
Act. An application submitted before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law in effect on the date the application was
submitted and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.