Bill Text: TX HB817 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Bill 817 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to a restriction on permits authorizing direct discharges of waste or pollutants into water in certain areas of the Edwards Aquifer.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-12 - Left pending in committee [HB817 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB817-Introduced.html

	86R4319 SLB-F

	By: King of Uvalde	H.B. No. 817



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to a restriction on permits authorizing direct discharges
	of waste or pollutants into water in certain areas of the Edwards
	Aquifer.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 26, Water Code, is amended
	by adding Section 26.0462 to read as follows:
	Sec. 26.0462. RESTRICTION ON PERMITS FOR DIRECT DISCHARGES
	OF WASTE OR POLLUTANTS INTO WATER IN CERTAIN ZONES OF EDWARDS
	AQUIFER. (a) The commission may not:
	(1) issue a new permit authorizing the direct
	discharge of waste or pollutants into any water in the contributing
	zone associated with the portion of the recharge zone of the Edwards
	Aquifer that is within the Nueces River basin; or
	(2) amend a permit issued before September 1, 2019, to
	authorize an increase in the amount of waste or pollutants that may
	be directly discharged into any water described by Subdivision (1).
	(b) This section does not affect the authority of the
	commission to authorize stormwater and certain non-stormwater
	discharges as specified in:
	(1) the commission's individual permits for municipal
	separate storm sewer systems; and
	(2) the commission's general permits for stormwater
	and associated non-stormwater discharges.
	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to an application for a permit or permit amendment that is submitted
	to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the
	effective date of this Act. An application for a permit or permit
	amendment that was 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 filed,
	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, 2019.