BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 2078

By: Kolkhorst

Environmental Regulation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that an Austin-based company that services some multi-family housing communities and businesses in Austin that are subject to a commercial food waste composting ordinance sought out property in Lee County for the purpose of composting meat, fish, dead animal carcasses, oil, grease, dairy materials, manure, and other matter from commercial, municipal, and institutional sources. The bill sponsor has also informed the committee that this has raised concerns in the community due to the proximity the facility will have to Yegua Creek, which feeds into Lake Somerville, a drinking water source in the region. C.S.S.B. 2078 seeks to address this issue by providing for the regulation in certain counties of commercial composting of food waste from municipalities that have a commercial food waste composting ordinance.

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.S.B. 2078 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a person from depositing at a composting facility located in a county that does not contain a municipality with a commercial food waste composting ordinance food waste that is collected for composting in a municipality that has a commercial food waste composting ordinance and subject to such an ordinance. The bill makes a person liable for a civil penalty of $1,000 for each violation of this prohibition and authorizes the attorney general to bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover the civil penalty. The prohibition does not apply to the following:

· an agricultural operation as defined by Agriculture Code provisions relating to the effect of nuisance actions and governmental requirements on certain agricultural operations;

· a composting facility located in a county that does not contain a municipality with a commercial food waste composting ordinance if the commissioners court of the county by resolution or order authorizes the deposit of food waste subject to a commercial food waste composting ordinance at the facility; or

· a composting facility that is authorized to operate under a valid notification issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on or before January 1, 2025, and accepted food waste collected for composting in a municipality that has a commercial food waste composting ordinance and subject to such an ordinance before January 1, 2025.

C.S.S.B. 2078 defines the following terms:

· "commercial food waste composting ordinance" as a municipal ordinance that requires a multifamily residential property, a business holding a food permit, or another business owner to divert food waste from disposal in a landfill; and

· "composting facility" as a facility that composts source-separated yard trimmings, clean wood material, vegetative material, paper, manure, meat, fish, dead animal carcasses, dairy materials, or meat and vegetable oils and greases from a municipal, commercial, or institutional source.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 2078 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Both the engrossed and substitute exempt an agricultural operation from the bill's provisions. However, the substitute also exempts the following facilities from those provisions:

· a composting facility that is authorized to operate under a valid notification issued by the TCEQ on or before January 1, 2025, and accepted food waste collected for composting in a municipality that has a commercial food waste composting ordinance and subject to such an ordinance before January 1, 2025.