By: Morales Shaw H.B. No. 3853
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to authorizing a change in the amount of certain
  administrative, civil, and criminal penalties for violating
  certain statutes under the jurisdiction of, rules or orders adopted
  by, or licenses, permits, or certificates issued by the Texas
  Commission on Environmental Quality.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 7, Water Code, is amended
  by adding Section 7.007 to read as follows:
         Sec. 7.007.  ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNT OF PENALTIES. (a) Not
  later than August 1 of each year, the commission shall compute,
  adopt, and publish a revised penalty amount for each penalty
  imposed by this chapter to account for inflation since the penalty
  was adopted.
         (b)  Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of a penalty
  assessed under this chapter must be the greater of:
               (1)  the amount specified under the section imposing
  the penalty; or
               (2)  the amount computed under Subsection (a) minus 10
  percent of that amount.
         (c)  In making the computation under Subsection (a), the
  commission shall:
               (1)  consider the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
  Consumers, or its successor in function, published by the United
  States Bureau of Labor Statistics;
               (2)  use as the base year for each penalty imposed by
  this chapter the year the penalty was enacted; and
               (3)  adjust the amount of each penalty imposed by this
  chapter to account for inflation since the base year used under
  Subdivision (2).
         (d)  The adjusted penalty amount adopted is effective
  beginning September 1 following the adjustment.
         (e)  The commission shall make available to the public
  information regarding adjustments made under this section.
         SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  a violation committed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
  violation committed before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect when the violation was committed, and
  the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
  purposes of this section, a violation was committed before the
  effective date of this Act if any element of the violation was
  committed before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.