| TO: | Honorable Jane Nelson, Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1176 by Deuell (Relating to the regulation of medical waste.), As Introduced |
The bill would give the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) authority over regulating the management of medical waste and change some of the requirements and regulations relating to medical waste. The bill would revise the definition of municipal solid waste to add medical waste as one of the waste streams specifically excluded from the definition of municipal solid waste. The bill, however, identifies specific existing TCEQ rules that govern the management of medical waste and municipal solid waste that would not be affected by the changes in law proposed by the bill.
The bill would take effect immediately if it receives a two-thirds vote in both houses; otherwise, it would take effect on September 1, 2013.
This analysis assumes the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), which currently has rules in place governing definition, treatment, and disposition of special waste from health care-related facilities, would repeal those rules because the bill would authorize the TCEQ to control all aspects of medical waste management.
Passage of the bill is not expected to have a signficant fiscal impact on the TCEQ or the DSHS.
| Source Agencies: | 537 State Health Services, Department of, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality
|
| LBB Staff: | UP, CL, TL, CH, JTe
|