Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Economic Development
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB694 by Campbell (Relating to the regulation of aggregate production operations by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; increasing a fee; increasing administrative penalties.), As Introduced
The fiscal implications to the State cannot be determined because the number of violations that would occur under a higher maximum penalty and the penalty that would be assessed for individual violations under the new maximum is unknown.
The bill would amend the Water Code to require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to investigate aggregate production operations (APOs) every two years instead of every three years and would allow TCEQ to conduct unannounced periodic inspections at APOs that were issued notices of violations during the preceding two-year period.
The bill would increase the maximum annual registration fee for APOs from $1,000 to $1,500 and would increase the maximum penalty assessed to an unregistered APO from $10,000 to $20,000 for each year that the APO operates without a registration. The bill would also delete the maximum penalty assessed to an APO that is operated three or more years without being registered. The amount of additional penalty revenue that would be deposited to the credit of the General Revenue Fund cannot be estimated at this time because the number of violations that would occur under a higher maximum penalty and the penalty that would be assessed for individual violations under the new maximum is unknown.
Based on information provided by the TCEQ, this estimate assumes that the additional costs identified by TCEQ as necessary to meet the anticipated increase in comprehensive compliance inspections under the provisions of the bill could be absorbed with available resources.
Local Government Impact
According to TCEQ, any local or governmental entities operating APOs, as defined by the Texas Water Code, would be subject to the increased inspections, registration fees, and penalties resulting from this bill. By statutory definition, APOs do not include "temporary sites that are being used solely to provide aggregate products for use in a public works project involving the Texas Department of Transportation or a local governmental entity.
Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality