87R7833 JAM-D
 
  By: Rosenthal H.B. No. 2659
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to reporting requirements for certain accidental
  discharges or spills.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 26.039(b) and (g), Water Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (g), whenever an
  accidental discharge or spill occurs at or from any activity or
  facility which causes or may cause pollution, the individual
  operating, in charge of, or responsible for the activity or
  facility shall notify the commission and the county judge of the
  county in which the spill or discharge occurred as soon as possible
  and not later than 24 hours after the occurrence. The individual's
  notice to the commission and county judge must include the
  location, volume, and content of the discharge or spill.
         (g)  The individual is not required to notify the commission
  or a county judge of an accidental discharge or spill of treated or
  untreated domestic wastewater under Subsection (b) or officials or
  media under Subsection (e) of a single accidental discharge or
  spill that:
               (1)  occurs at a wastewater treatment or collection
  facility owned or operated by a local government;
               (2)  has a volume of 1,000 gallons or less;
               (3)  is not associated with another simultaneous
  accidental discharge or spill;
               (4)  is controlled or removed before the accidental
  discharge or spill:
                     (A)  enters water in the state; or
                     (B)  adversely affects a public or private source
  of drinking water;
               (5)  will not endanger human health or safety or the
  environment; and
               (6)  is not otherwise subject to local regulatory
  control and reporting requirements.
         SECTION 2.  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.