BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

C.S.H.B. 5057

By: Landgraf

Environmental Regulation

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

The bill author has informed the committee that many municipalities provide solid waste management services through contracts with private companies, that these contracts can include residential and commercial services or be limited to one or the other, and that open markets exist when one or more of these types of solid waste management services is not included in a municipal solid waste management services contract, which allows for individual accounts and businesses to be serviced by individual contracts with private service providers for those excluded services. The bill author has also informed the committee that significant disruptions can occur when a public agency renews or amends a contract that includes commercial accounts that were not previously included and that these agency decisions can result in substantial costs to the private service providers, which will essentially and immediately be evicted by such a decision. C.S.H.B. 5057 seeks to address this issue by allowing for a privately owned solid waste management service provider affected by an exclusive contract entered into by a public agency, such as a municipality, to continue to provide services for a limited time.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

 

ANALYSIS

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 amends the Health and Safety Code to require a public agency that enters into an exclusive contract, including by renewing or amending an existing contract in a manner that grants a privately owned solid waste management service provider an exclusive right to provide certain additional solid waste services that was not contained in the contract before the renewal or amendment, to give notice containing the following:

·       a summary of the purpose of the contract or amendment; and

·       a description of the change made by the contract or amendment.

The bill defines the following:

·       "exclusive contract" as a contract or franchise agreement between a public agency and a privately owned solid waste management service provider that grants to the service provider an exclusive right to provide certain solid waste management services in the public agency's jurisdiction; and

·       "solid waste management services" as solid waste collection or transportation services.

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 requires a public agency that is required to give such notice to do the following:

·       publish the notice:

o   in a newspaper of general circulation in the agency's jurisdiction; and

o   on a publicly available website maintained by the agency, if the agency maintains such a website; and

·       if the agency requires a privately owned solid waste management service provider to register or obtain approval to operate in the agency's jurisdiction, give notice to each provider registered with or approved by the agency to operate in the jurisdiction.

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 prohibits the contract or amendment from taking effect before the date of the notice's required newspaper publication. The bill authorizes a privately owned solid waste management service provider that has an existing contract with a person to provide certain solid waste management services for which a public agency enters into an exclusive contract with another service provider to continue to provide those services in the agency's jurisdiction until the earlier of the following:

·       the date the service provider's existing nonexclusive contract expires; or

·       the first anniversary of the date the agency publishes the newspaper notice.

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 authorizes a privately owned solid waste management service provider that provides solid waste management services to a person in a public agency's jurisdiction and that does not have a contract to provide the services, if the agency enters into an exclusive contract with another service provider to provide those services, to continue to provide the services in the jurisdiction until the 60th day after the date the agency publishes the newspaper notice.

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 expressly does not apply to the provision of solid waste management services by a municipality to an annexed area as provided by applicable Local Government Code provisions.

 

C.S.H.B. 5057 applies only to a contract or franchise agreement for solid waste management services entered into on or after the bill's effective date.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.

 

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

 

While C.S.H.B. 5057 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

 

The substitute defines "solid waste management services" as solid waste collection or transportation services, whereas the introduced did not define that term.

 

The substitute omits the requirement from the introduced that the notice that a public agency that enters into an exclusive contract is required to give contain a summary of the effect of the contract or amendment and the bill's provisions on the operations of a privately owned solid waste management service provider that is operating in the agency's jurisdiction and is not a party to the contract.

 

The substitute conditions the introduced version's requirement that an agency that is required to give notice publish the notice on a publicly available website maintained by the agency on the agency maintaining such a website.

 

Whereas the introduced established that the contract or applicable contract amendment takes effect on publication of the notice, the substitute prohibits the contract or amendment from taking effect before the date of the notice's required newspaper publication.

 

Both the introduced and the substitute authorize a privately owned solid waste management service provider that has an existing contract with a person to provide certain solid waste management services for which a public agency enters into an exclusive contract with another service provider to continue to provide those services in the agency's jurisdiction until the earlier of the date the service provider's existing nonexclusive contract expires or the anniversary of the date the agency publishes the notice. However, the substitute replaces one such date of the second anniversary of the date the agency publishes the notice, as in the introduced, to the first anniversary of the date the agency publishes the newspaper notice.

 

With respect to the authorization in both the introduced and the substitute for a privately owned solid waste management service provider that provides solid waste management services to a person in a public agency's jurisdiction and that does not have a contract to provide the services, if the agency enters into an exclusive contract with another service provider to provide those services, to continue to provide the services in the jurisdiction until the 60th day after the date the agency publishes the notice, the substitute specifies that such publication is of the newspaper notice, whereas the introduced did not include this specification.