S.B. No. 2445

AN ACT

relating to the disposal of sewage by certain boats.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and (f), Section 26.044, Water Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) In [As used in] this section:

(1) "Boat"[, "boat"] means any vessel or other watercraft, whether moved by oars, paddles, sails, or other power mechanism, inboard or outboard, or any other vessel or structure floating on surface water in the [this] state, whether or not capable of self-locomotion, including but not limited to cabin cruisers, houseboats, barges, marinas, and similar floating objects. The term does not include a vessel subject to inspection under 46 U.S.C. Section 3301.

(2) "Boat pump-out station" means any private or public shoreside, mobile, or floating installation either independent of or in addition to an organized waste collection, treatment, and disposal system used to receive boat sewage.

(3) "Shoreside, mobile, or floating installation" means marinas and other installations servicing boats on surface water in the state.

(4) "Surface water in the state" means all lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico out three nautical miles into the Gulf, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state, except waters beyond three nautical miles of any shore in the state.

(b) The commission shall issue rules concerning the disposal of sewage from boats located or operated on surface water in the [inland fresh waters in this] state. The rules of the commission shall include provisions for the establishment of standards for sewage disposal devices, the certification of sewage disposal devices, including shoreside and mobile boat [on-shore] pump-out stations [facilities], and the visible and conspicuous display of evidence of certification of sewage disposal devices on each boat equipped with such device and on each shoreside and mobile [on-shore] pump-out device.

(c) The commission may delegate the administration and performance of the certification function to the executive director or to another [any other] governmental entity. The commission or delegated authority shall collect the following fees from applicants for certification: Boat Pump-out Station (biennial) [Certificates (annual)]: Initial Certificates for Pump-out $35 Pump-out Renewal $25 Marine Sanitation Device (biennial): Boat over 26 Feet or Houseboat $15 Boat 26 Feet or less with Permanent Device $15 All certification fees shall be paid to the commission or delegated authority [entity] performing the certification function. All fees collected by any state agency shall be deposited to the credit of the water resource management account for use by the commission or delegated authority [that agency in administering and performing the certification function].

(d) Before issuing any rules under Subsection (b) [of this section], the commission or any person authorized by it under Section 26.021 on request may [of this code shall] hold hearings on those rules in Austin and in five other locations in the state in order to provide the best opportunity for all citizens of the state to appear and present evidence to the commission.

(f) Copies of each rule issued by the commission under this section shall be filed in the offices of the commission in Austin, in the office of the Secretary of State in Austin, and posted on the commission's Internet website [the office of the county clerk in each county in the state]. The commission shall provide for publication of notice of each rule issued under this section in at least one newspaper of general circulation in each county of the state and shall furnish the county judge of each county of the state a copy of the rules.

SECTION 2. Subsections (a), (b), and (c), Section 26.045, Water Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) In this section "boat," "boat pump-out station," "shoreside, mobile, or floating installation," and "surface water in the state" have the meanings assigned by[:

[(1) "Boat" means the same as defined in] Section 26.044 [26.044(a), Water Code].

[(2) "Boat pump-out station" means any private or public shoreside installation either independent of or in addition to an organized waste collection, treatment, and disposal system used to receive boat sewage.

[(3) "Shoreside installation" means marinas and other installations servicing boats on fresh water of Texas.

[(4) "Fresh water" means as geographically applied all of the surface lakes, streams, and reservoirs of the state, exclusive of the extent of ordinary tidal action on this water.]

(b) After a public hearing and after making every reasonable effort to bring about the establishment of an adequate number of boat pump-out stations on surface [fresh] water in the state, the commission may enter an order requiring the establishment of boat pump-out stations by a local government that has any jurisdiction over at least a portion of the surface [fresh] water in the state or over land immediately adjacent to the [fresh] water.

(c) If a local government is authorized to issue authorization for the operation of shoreside, mobile, or floating installations, the local government may require the installation and operation of boat pump-out stations where necessary. The local government shall require the installation and operation of boat pump-out stations if required by the commission.

SECTION 3. The heading to Section 31.129, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 31.129. VIOLATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF SEWAGE DISPOSAL REGULATIONS.

SECTION 4. Section 31.129, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:

(a) A person who violates or fails to comply with a rule of the Texas [Natural Resource Conservation] Commission on Environmental Quality concerning the disposal of sewage from boats commits an offense that is a Class C Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor. A separate offense is committed each day a violation continues.

(c) A game warden or peace officer who is certified as a marine safety enforcement officer under Section 31.121 may enforce a rule of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality concerning the disposal of sewage from boats.

(d) A marine safety enforcement officer who reasonably suspects that a boat is discharging sewage in an area where discharge is prohibited may, if the owner or operator is aboard, board the boat for the purpose of inspecting the marine sanitation device for proper operation and testing the sanitation and holding devices, including placing a dye tablet in the holding tank.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2445 passed the Senate on April 22, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 1.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2445 passed the House on May 26, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, one present not voting.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

Approved:

______________________________

Date

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Governor