BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 240

By: Parker

Environmental Regulation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There is concern that the accidental or unintentional removal of a septic tank lid may contribute to harmful or fatal accidents involving children accessing and then falling into septic tanks. C.S.H.B. 240 seeks to prevent such accidents by requiring the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt rules to require on-site sewage disposal systems, including risers and covers, to be designed to prevent accidental or unintentional access to the system.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 240 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt rules requiring on-site sewage disposal systems, including risers and covers, installed after September 1, 2012, to be designed to prevent accidental or unintentional access to the system.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 240 differs from the original by requiring the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt rules that require on-site sewage disposal systems, including risers and covers, installed after September 1, 2012, to be designed to prevent accidental or unintentional access to the system, rather than requiring rules that prevent accidental or unintentional access to on-site sewage disposal systems, as in the original.