87R729 JRR-D

By: Johnson S.B. No. 125

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the regulation of hydrofluorocarbons under the Texas Clean Air Act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subchapter L to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER L. REGULATION OF HYDROFLUOROCARBONS

Sec. 382.551. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1) "Class I substances" and "class II substances" mean those substances listed in 42 U.S.C. Section 7671a, as that section existed on November 15, 1990, or those substances listed in Appendix A or B of 40 C.F.R. Part 82, Subpart A, as those appendices existed on January 3, 2017.

(2) "Hydrofluorocarbons" means the class of greenhouse gases that are saturated organic compounds containing hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon.

(3) "Residential consumer refrigeration products" means a consumer refrigeration product as defined by 10 C.F.R. Section 430.2 that is designed or manufactured primarily for residential use.

(4) "Retrofit" has the meaning assigned by 40 C.F.R. Section 82.152, as that section existed as of January 3, 2017.

(5) "Substitute" means a chemical, product, or alternative manufacturing process, whether existing or retrofit, that is used to perform a function previously performed by a class I substance or class II substance and any substitute subsequently adopted to perform that function, including hydrofluorocarbons.

Sec. 382.552. REGULATION OF HYDROFLUOROCARBONS. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a person may not offer any product or equipment for sale, lease, or rent, or install or otherwise cause any product or equipment to enter into commerce in this state if that product or equipment consists of, uses, or will use a substitute, as provided in Appendix U or V of 40 C.F.R. Part 82, Subpart G, as those appendices existed on January 3, 2017, for the applications or end uses restricted by those appendices.

(b) Except where existing equipment is retrofit, Subsection (a) does not require a person that acquired a prohibited product or equipment before the applicable effective date specified in Subsection (c) for the prohibition to cease use of that product or equipment. Products or equipment manufactured before the applicable effective date specified in Subsection (c) for the prohibition may be sold, imported, exported, distributed, installed, and used after the specified effective date.

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the prohibition imposed under Subsection (a) takes effect beginning:

(1) January 1, 2023, for:

(A) propellants;

(B) rigid polyurethane applications and spray foam, flexible polyurethane, integral skin polyurethane, flexible polyurethane foam, polystyrene extruded sheet, polyolefin, phenolic insulation board, and bunstock;

(C) supermarket systems, remote condensing units, stand-alone units, and vending machines;

(D) refrigerated food processing and dispensing equipment;

(E) compact residential consumer refrigeration products; and

(F) polystyrene extruded boardstock and billet and rigid polyurethane low-pressure two-component spray foam;

(2) January 1, 2024, for residential consumer refrigeration products other than compact and built-in residential consumer refrigeration products;

(3) January 1, 2025, for:

(A) cold storage warehouses; and

(B) built-in residential consumer refrigeration products;

(4) January 1, 2026, for centrifugal chillers and positive displacement chillers; and

(5) January 1, 2022, or the effective date of the restrictions identified in Appendix U or V of 40 C.F.R. Part 82, Subpart G, as those appendices existed on January 3, 2017, whichever comes later, for all other applications and end uses for substitutes not described by the categories listed in Subdivisions (1) through (4).

(d) The commission by rule may modify the effective date specified in Subsection (c) for a prohibition if the commission determines that the modified deadline:

(1) reduces the overall risk to human health or the environment; and

(2) reflects the earliest date that a substitute is currently or potentially available.

(e) If the United States Environmental Protection Agency approves a previously prohibited hydrofluorocarbon blend with a global warming potential of 750 or less for foam blowing of polystyrene extruded boardstock and billet and rigid polyurethane low-pressure two-component spray foam pursuant to the significant new alternatives policy program under the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section 7671k), the commission shall expeditiously propose a rule to conform the requirements established under this section with that federal action.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.