By: Darby, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Hughes) H.B. No. 964
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 2021;
  May 4, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
  Resources & Economic Development; May 19, 2021, reported favorably
  by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 19, 2021, sent to
  printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the treatment, recycling for beneficial use, or
  disposal of drill cuttings.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 123.001(2) and (3), Natural Resources
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
               (2)  "Drill cuttings" means bits of rock or soil cut
  from a subsurface formation by a drill bit during the process of
  drilling an oil or gas well and lifted to the surface by means of the
  circulation of drilling mud.  The term includes any associated
  sand, silt, drilling fluid, spent completion fluid, workover fluid,
  debris, water, brine, oil scum, paraffin, or other material cleaned
  out of the wellbore.
               (3)  "Permit holder" means a person who holds a permit
  from the commission to operate a stationary commercial solid oil
  and gas waste recycling facility or a commercial oil and gas waste
  disposal facility.
         SECTION 2.  Section 123.003, Natural Resources Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 123.003.  RESPONSIBILITY IN TORT. Unless otherwise
  provided by a contract or other written agreement, a [A] person who
  generates drill cuttings and transfers the drill cuttings in an
  arm's length transaction to an unaffiliated third-party [a] permit
  holder under a contract that requires [with the contractual
  understanding] that the drill cuttings [will] be used in connection
  with road building or another beneficial use or disposed of is not
  liable in tort for a consequence of the subsequent use or disposal
  of the drill cuttings by the permit holder or by another person if:
               (1)  the person who generates the drill cuttings has
  the legal and contractual right to transfer the drill cuttings to
  the permit holder; 
               (2)  the method and location of the use or disposal are
  not prohibited by law, contract, or other written agreement; and 
               (3)  the consequence was caused solely by the permit
  holder.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
  this Act. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date
  of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before that
  date, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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