Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3177 by Lucio III (Relating to the delegation of matters to the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.), As Passed 2nd House
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend Texas Water Code, Section 5.122(a) to allow the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to act on uncontested applications if the application has become uncontested because the person who requested a contested case hearing has withdrawn the hearing request without condition; has withdrawn the hearing request conditioned only on the withdrawal of all other hearing requests; or has agreed in writing to allow the executive director to make a final decision on the matter. The bill would amend Texas Water Code, Section 5.351 to allow judicial review of the executive director's decision on an uncontested matter if an affected person files a petition for judicial review that meet certain requirements. The bill would only apply to matters delegated to the executive director of TCEQ on or after the effective date of the bill. The bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
TCEQ estimates that implementing the provisions of the bill could be done using existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.