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.