LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 9, 2007

TO:	Honorable Kip Averitt, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1864 by Zaffirini (Relating to the review of solid waste facility permits.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would require that waste management permits be reviewed every five years if a facility has the lowest compliance ranking or if requested by a state legislator from the area, a local governmental entity with jurisdiction, a local council of governments with jurisdiction, a nearby homeowners’ association, or a group of 10 local homeowners. The bill would require that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) develop rules for the permit review procedure including public notice of the review, and consideration of complaints and alleged noncompliances over the previous five year period. Based on that review, the TCEQ would be authorized to recommend changes to the permit or limit the term of the permit. In addition, the bill would repeal a requirement for five-year assessments of solid waste permit holders' compliance history.

Passage of the bill would result in increased workload for the TCEQ. The additional workload would be associated with permit review, assessment of complaints and alleged noncompliances, the preparation of responses to comments, as well as changes in procedures regarding permit change recommendations and rulemaking. Although implementation of the bill would affect various sections and divisions within the TCEQ, the overall impact to the agency is not expected to be signficicant. This estimate assumes any impact would be absorbed using existing agency resources.

Local Government Impact

A local government holding a solid waste permit could be required to have a permit review every five years if the entity has a poor compliance history or if a review is requested by certain elected officials, governmental officials or members of the public. This could result in additional costs to such local governments. However, this estimate assumes that the bill's passage would act as an incentive to local governments to achieve better compliance histories, in which case, the impact of the bill would be minimal.

Source Agencies:

582 Commission on Environmental Quality

LBB Staff:

JOB, WK, ZS, TL