Amend SB 1693 (house committee printing) by adding the
following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and
renumbering subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 5.1175, Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 5.1175. PAYMENT OF PENALTY BY INSTALLMENT. (a) The
commission by rule may [shall] allow a person who [small business
that] owes a monetary civil or administrative penalty imposed for a
violation of law within the commission's jurisdiction or for a
violation of a license, permit, or order issued or rule adopted by
the commission to pay the penalty in periodic installments. The
rule must provide a procedure for a person [qualified small
business] to apply for permission to pay the penalty over time.
(b) [The rule must classify small businesses by their net
annual receipts and number of employees. A business that is a
wholly owed subsidiary of a corporation may not qualify as a small
business under this section.
[(c)] The rule may vary the period over which the penalty may
be paid or the amount of the periodic installments according to the
amount of the penalty owed and the size of the business that owes
the penalty. The period over which the penalty may be paid may not
exceed 36 [12] months.
SECTION ____. Section 7.002, Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 7.002. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY. The commission may
initiate an action under this chapter to enforce provisions of this
code and the Health and Safety Code within the commission's
jurisdiction as provided by Section 5.013 of this code and rules
adopted under those provisions. The commission or the executive
director may institute legal proceedings to compel compliance with
the relevant provisions of this code and the Health and Safety Code
and rules, orders, permits, or other decisions of the commission.
The commission may delegate to the executive director the authority
to issue an administrative order, including an administrative order
that assesses penalties or orders corrective measures, to ensure
compliance with the provisions of this code and the Health and
Safety Code within the commission's jurisdiction as provided by
Section 5.013 of this code and rules adopted under those
provisions.
SECTION ____. Section 26.0135(h), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) The commission shall apportion, assess, and recover the
reasonable costs of administering the water quality management
programs under this section [from users of water and wastewater
permit holders in the watershed according to the records of the
commission generally in proportion to their right, through permit
or contract, to use water from and discharge wastewater in the
watershed]. Irrigation water rights, non-priority hydroelectric
rights of a water right holder that owns or operates privately owned
facilities that collectively have a capacity of less than two
megawatts, and water rights held in the Texas Water Trust for terms
of at least 20 years will not be subject to this assessment. The
cost to river authorities and others to conduct water quality
monitoring and assessment shall be subject to prior review and
approval by the commission as to methods of allocation and total
amount to be recovered. The commission shall adopt rules to
supervise and implement the water quality monitoring, assessment,
and associated costs. The rules shall ensure that water users and
wastewater dischargers do not pay excessive amounts, [that program
funds are equitably apportioned among basins,] that a river
authority may recover no more than the actual costs of
administering the water quality management programs called for in
this section, and that no municipality shall be assessed cost for
any efforts that duplicate water quality management activities
described in Section 26.177. [The rules concerning the
apportionment and assessment of reasonable costs shall provide for
a recovery of not more than $5,000,000 annually. Costs recovered by
the commission are to be deposited to the credit of the water
resource management account and may be used only to accomplish the
purposes of this section. The commission may apply not more than 10
percent of the costs recovered annually toward the commission's
overhead costs for the administration of this section and the
implementation of regional water quality assessments. The
commission, with the assistance and input of each river authority,
shall file a written report accounting for the costs recovered
under this section with the governor, the lieutenant governor, and
the speaker of the house of representatives on or before December 1
of each even numbered year.]