BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3142

By: Guillen

Natural Resources

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that public water systems, particularly smaller systems, are not satisfactorily complying with certain reporting requirements. C.S.H.B. 3142 seeks to address this issue and increase compliance by requiring automatic reminders to be provided as a courtesy to public drinking water supply systems about those reporting requirements.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3142 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to establish a system to provide automatic reminders to public drinking water supply systems about regular reporting requirements applicable to the systems under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and under state statutory provisions relating to minimum standards of sanitation and health protection measures that relate to TCEQ rules adopted under those laws. The bill establishes that such an automatic reminder is a courtesy and that a public drinking water supply system is responsible for complying with applicable regular reporting requirements regardless of whether TCEQ provides automatic reminders.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3142 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the entities to whom the automatic reminders are provided from operators of public drinking water supply systems to the systems themselves. The substitute revises the provisions and rules that provide for the applicable reporting requirements.

The substitute includes provisions establishing that an automatic reminder provided under the bill is a courtesy and that a public drinking water supply system is responsible for complying with applicable regular reporting requirements regardless of whether TCEQ provides automatic reminders.