H.B. No. 1251
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to a public agency's, county's, or municipality's
  authority to enforce a solid waste collection and transportation
  services franchise or contract.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 364.034, Health and Safety Code, is
  amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g),
  and (h) to read as follows:
         (e)  Except as provided by Subsections (f), (g), and (h),
  this [This] section does not apply to a person who provides the
  public or private entity, public agency, or county with written
  documentation that the person is receiving solid waste disposal
  services from another entity. Nothing in this section shall limit
  the authority of a public agency, including a county or a 
  municipality, to enforce its grant of a franchise or contract for
  solid waste collection and transportation services within its
  territory.  Except as provided by Subsection (f), the governing
  body of a municipality may provide that a franchise it grants or a
  contract it enters into for solid waste collection and
  transportation services under this subchapter or under other law
  supersedes inside of the municipality's boundaries any other
  franchise granted or contract entered into under this subchapter.
         (f)  Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, a
  political subdivision, including a county or a municipality, may
  not restrict the right of an entity to contract with a licensed
  waste hauler for the collection and removal of domestic septage or
  of grease trap waste, grit trap waste, lint trap waste, or sand trap
  waste.
         (g)  Except as provided by this subsection, a person is
  exempt from the application of a requirement adopted by a public
  agency or county under Subsection (a) if the person, on the date the
  requirement is adopted, is receiving under a contract in effect on
  that date solid waste disposal services at a level that is the same
  as or higher than the level of services that otherwise would be
  required.  The exception provided by this subsection does not apply
  to a requirement adopted under this section by a municipality.  To
  qualify for the exemption provided by this subsection, the person
  must provide to the public agency or county written documentation
  acceptable to the public agency or county not later than the 30th
  day before the date the otherwise required services are scheduled
  to begin.  The person who provides solid waste disposal services to
  a person who qualifies for the exemption shall notify the public
  agency or county that the services under the contract have stopped
  not later than the 15th day after the date those services are
  stopped for any reason.
         (h)  This section does not apply to a private entity that
  contracts to provide temporary solid waste disposal services to a
  construction project.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the House on April
  12, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 130, Nays 10, 1 present, not
  voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
  H.B. No. 1251 on May 18, 2007, and requested the appointment of a
  conference committee to consider the differences between the two
  houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
  on H.B. No. 1251 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 135,
  Nays 5, 2 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 15, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
  0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
  committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
  that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
  1251 on May 26, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor