By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 519
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the issuance of a permit for a municipal solid waste
  landfill facility located in a special flood hazard area.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
  Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1232 to read as follows:
         Sec. 361.1232.  LIMITATION ON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL
  IN SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA. (a) In this section:
               (1)  "Facility" means all land, improvements on land,
  structures, and appurtenances, including drainage structures,
  groundwater monitoring wells, landfill gas probes, and gate or
  scale houses, that are used for the storage, processing, or
  disposal of solid waste.
               (2)  "Special flood hazard area" means the land in a
  floodplain subject to not less than one percent chance of flooding
  in a year as designated by the director or administrator of the
  Federal Emergency Management Agency.
         (b)  The commission may not issue a permit for a new
  municipal solid waste landfill facility or a lateral expansion of
  an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility that is
  contingent on the removal of a part of the facility from a special
  flood hazard area.
         (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), the commission may
  not issue a permit for a new municipal solid waste landfill facility
  to be located in a special flood hazard area or for a lateral
  expansion of an existing municipal solid waste landfill facility if
  a part of the facility is or will be located in a special flood
  hazard area unless the applicant has obtained from the Federal
  Emergency Management Agency a letter of map change demonstrating
  that the entire facility has been removed from the special flood
  hazard area. A conditional letter of map amendment issued by the
  Federal Emergency Management Agency does not satisfy the
  requirements of this subsection.
         (d)  The commission shall coordinate with all applicable
  regional and local governments to verify that all required map
  changes to the Flood Insurance Rate Map have been acquired from the
  Federal Emergency Management Agency and that all necessary permits
  have been issued for the facility by the governmental entities or
  agencies with jurisdiction over the facility under Section 16.235,
  Texas Water Code, or Chapter 16, Subchapter I, Texas Water Code.
         SECTION 2.  Section 361.1232, Health and Safety Code, as
  added by this Act, applies only to an application for the issuance
  or amendment of a permit for a municipal solid waste landfill
  facility that is pending before the Texas Commission on
  Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. A
  permit for a municipal solid waste landfill facility that is issued
  or amended before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
  law in effect when the permit was issued or amended, and the former
  law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2023.