88R5626 MP-F
 
  By: Eckhardt, et al. S.B. No. 788
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice
  within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended by adding
  Subchapter G-1 to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER G-1. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
         Sec. 5.291.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (1)  "Environmental justice community" means a United
  States census block group, as determined in accordance with the
  most recent United States census, for which: 
                     (A)  30 percent or more of the
  noninstitutionalized population consists of persons who have an
  income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level; or 
                     (B)  50 percent or more of the population consists
  of members of racial minority or ethnic minority groups.
               (2)  "Office" means the Office of Environmental
  Justice.
               (3)  "Permit" has the meaning assigned by Section
  5.752. The term includes an original permit, permit renewal, or
  permit amendment.
               (4)  "Permitted facility" means a facility required to
  obtain a permit under:
                     (A)  Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code;
                     (B)  Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code; or
                     (C)  Chapter 26 or 27 of this code.
         Sec. 5.292.  CREATION AND GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICE
  OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. The Office of Environmental Justice is
  created within the commission to protect the public health, general
  welfare, and physical property of environmental justice
  communities in regard to the issuance of permits.
         Sec. 5.293.  RECOMMENDATION ON PERMIT. (a) In this section,
  "affected environmental justice community" means an environmental
  justice community within three miles of a proposed or existing
  permitted facility.
         (b)  This section applies only to an application for a permit
  related to a proposed or existing permitted facility located within
  three miles of an environmental justice community.
         (c)  The office shall provide a recommendation to the
  commission on whether a permit should be issued. In making the
  recommendation, the office shall consider:
               (1)  whether the cumulative effects of pollution from
  the proposed permitted facility or change to an existing facility
  on the affected environmental justice community exceed the
  statewide average; and
               (2)  any existing or anticipated vulnerabilities in the
  affected environmental justice community, including:
                     (A)  existing pollution levels in the affected
  environmental justice community and exposure of the residents of
  that community to those pollutants;
                     (B)  limited access to health care by residents of
  the affected environmental justice community;
                     (C)  health factors of the residents of the
  affected environmental justice community, including the prevalence
  of:
                           (i)  asthma and other respiratory diseases;
  and
                           (ii)  cancer; and
                     (D)  proximity of the proposed permitted facility
  to locations where children and elderly and medically vulnerable
  people commonly gather, including:
                           (i)  single or multi-family residences;
                           (ii)  schools;
                           (iii)  places of worship;
                           (iv)  day care centers; and
                           (v)  hospitals or other medical facilities.
         (d)  The office shall provide the recommendation described
  by this section not later than the seventh day after the last day of
  the public comment period applicable to the permit.
         Sec. 5.294.  CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATION BY COMMISSION.
  In addition to other factors required by law, the commission shall
  consider the recommendation of the office in making a determination
  about whether to issue a permit to which Section 5.293 applies.
         Sec. 5.295.  STAFF; OUTSIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (a) The
  office shall be adequately staffed to carry out its functions under
  this subchapter.
         (b)  The office may obtain and use outside technical support
  to carry out its functions under this subchapter.
         SECTION 2.  (a) Section 5.293, Water Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to an application for a permit, permit renewal, or
  permit amendment submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental
  Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. An application
  for a permit, permit renewal, or permit amendment submitted to the
  Texas Commission on Environmental Quality before the effective date
  of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
  application was submitted, and the former law is continued in
  effect for that purpose.
         (b)  The Office of Environmental Justice within the Texas
  Commission on Environmental Quality, as created by this Act, is not
  required to issue a recommendation under Section 5.293, Water Code,
  as added by this Act, before January 1, 2024.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.