81R2315 JJT-D
By: Allen H.B. No. 4056
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a program for the collection,
transportation, recycling, and disposal of mercury-added
thermostats.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter Z to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER Z. MERCURY-ADDED THERMOSTAT COLLECTION PROGRAM
Sec. 361.971. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Manufacturer" means a business concern that owns
or owned a name brand of mercury-added thermostats sold in this
state.
(2) "Mercury-added thermostat" means a thermostat
that uses a mercury switch to sense and control room temperature.
(3) "Out-of-service mercury-added thermostat" means a
mercury-added thermostat that is removed from a building in this
state and is intended to be discarded.
(4) "Retailer" means a person who sells thermostats
directly to a consumer through a selling or distribution mechanism,
including a sale using a catalog or the Internet.
(5) "Thermostat" means a device that uses a switch to
sense and control room temperature in a residential, commercial,
industrial, or other building through communication with heating,
ventilating, or air-conditioning equipment. The term does not
include a thermostat used to sense and control temperature as part
of a manufacturing process.
(6) "Wholesaler" means a person engaged in the
distribution and wholesale selling of heating, ventilation, and
air-conditioning components to contractors who install heating,
ventilation, and air-conditioning components and whose total
wholesale sales account for 80 percent or more of total sales. The
term does not include a manufacturer.
Sec. 361.972. MANUFACTURER PROGRAMS FOR OUT-OF-SERVICE
MERCURY-ADDED THERMOSTATS. (a) A manufacturer shall establish,
finance, manage, and maintain a program for the collection,
transportation, recycling, and disposal of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats in accordance with this subchapter,
either individually or collectively with other manufacturers. Each
manufacturer is responsible for collecting, handling,
transporting, and recycling or disposing of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats through a program in accordance with this
subchapter and rules adopted under this subchapter.
(b) A manufacturer or a group of manufacturers operating a
program collectively may contract with a retailer to provide a
point of collection for out-of-service mercury-added thermostats,
either in the retailer's place of business or elsewhere.
Sec. 361.973. COLLECTION BINS. A manufacturer's program
established under Section 361.972 shall:
(1) provide collection bins for out-of-service
mercury-added thermostat collection to:
(A) wholesalers, at a cost not to exceed $25; and
(B) a local government that requests a collection
bin for use at a household hazardous waste collection facility or a
household hazardous waste event, at no cost to the local
government; and
(2) arrange to:
(A) collect the contents of the collection bins
provided under this section for proper handling, recycling, or
disposal; or
(B) pay the costs of shipping the contents of the
collection bins provided under this section for proper handling,
recycling, or disposal.
Sec. 361.974. PROGRAM EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. (a) A
manufacturer's program established under Section 361.972, in
accordance with commission rules, shall:
(1) make a public service announcement promoting the
proper management of out-of-service mercury-added thermostats and
provide copies of the announcement to the commission for its use and
promotion;
(2) establish and provide to the commission the
address of a public Internet website through which visitors can
easily download templates of educational materials;
(3) to encourage greater participation in the proper
management of out-of-service mercury-added thermostats throughout
this state, undertake to engage other stakeholders, including
waste, demolition, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning
organizations, and appropriate state agencies and local
governments;
(4) work with utilities in this state that are
participating in demand response programs involving thermostat
replacement to encourage the utilities' participation in the
collection and proper management of out-of-service mercury-added
thermostats;
(5) encourage utilities to include an educational
insert in customers' utility bills;
(6) encourage wholesalers to support and participate
in educating customers on the proper management of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats;
(7) encourage retailers' support and participation in
educating consumers on the proper management of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats; and
(8) undertake other educational or outreach efforts
required by commission rule.
(b) This section expires January 1, 2013.
Sec. 361.975. EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH MATERIALS. (a) A
manufacturer's program established under Section 361.972, in
accordance with commission rules, shall develop, update as
necessary, and make available to retailers, wholesalers, and
household hazardous waste programs educational and other outreach
materials for:
(1) heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning
contractors, demolition contractors, and associations of those
contractors;
(2) utilities and local governments that provide
utility services or household hazardous waste programs; and
(3) homeowners.
(b) Materials developed and made available under Subsection
(a) must include at least one of the following:
(1) signs designed for prominent, easily visible
display for viewing by consumers and contractors;
(2) written materials and templates of materials for
reproduction by retailers and wholesalers to be provided to the
consumer at the time of purchase or delivery of a thermostat that
include information on:
(A) prohibited methods of disposing of
mercury-added thermostats;
(B) proper management of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats; and
(C) locations where out-of-service mercury-added
thermostats are collected for proper handling, recycling, or
disposal;
(3) advertising or promotional materials that inform
about out-of-service mercury-added thermostat collection
opportunities; or
(4) materials to be used in direct communications with
the consumer and contractor at the time a mercury-added thermostat
is purchased.
Sec. 361.976. COLLECTION INCENTIVES AND EDUCATION. A
manufacturer's program established under Section 361.972 shall
provide incentives and education to contractors, service
technicians, and homeowners to encourage the return of
out-of-service mercury-added thermostats to established points of
collection.
Sec. 361.977. PROGRAMMABLE REPLACEMENT THERMOSTATS. A
manufacturer's program established under Section 361.972 shall
encourage the purchase of programmable thermostats that comply with
applicable building codes and that qualify for the Energy Star
program of the United States Environmental Protection Agency as
replacements for mercury-added thermostats.
Sec. 361.978. PROGRESS REPORT. On or before April 1 of each
year, a manufacturer, through a program established under Section
361.972, shall submit to the commission and post on the program's
Internet website a report that includes:
(1) the number of out-of-service mercury-added
thermostats the program collected in this state during the
preceding calendar year;
(2) the estimated total amount of mercury contained in
the out-of-service mercury-added thermostats the program collected
during the preceding calendar year;
(3) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the program;
(4) beginning with the report due April 1, 2014, a
comparison to the performance standards for collection established
under Section 361.986;
(5) an accounting of the program's administrative
costs that includes:
(A) for a nonprofit organization's program, a
copy of Internal Revenue Service Form 990; or
(B) for a for-profit organization's program,
independently audited financial statements detailing revenues and
a full accounting of administrative costs incurred;
(6) a description of the outreach strategies employed
to increase participation and collection rates;
(7) examples of outreach and educational materials
used;
(8) names and locations of all participating points of
collection;
(9) the number of out-of-service mercury-added
thermostats collected at each point of collection;
(10) the Internet website address at which the annual
report may be viewed online;
(11) a description of how the collected out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats were managed; and
(12) modifications that the manufacturer is proposing
to make in its collection and recycling program.
Sec. 361.979. THERMOSTAT SALES PROHIBITED; LIST OF
NONCOMPLIANT MANUFACTURERS. (a) A person may not sell or offer for
sale in this state a thermostat that is produced by a manufacturer
that has been listed on the commission's Internet website as a
noncompliant manufacturer for 120 or more consecutive days.
(b) On January 1 and July 1 of each year, the commission
shall post a list on its Internet website of manufacturers that are
not in compliance with this subchapter.
(c) A wholesaler or retailer that distributes or sells
mercury-added thermostats shall monitor the commission's Internet
website to determine whether the sale of a manufacturer's
thermostats is in compliance with this subchapter.
Sec. 361.980. WHOLESALER DUTY: POINT OF COLLECTION. A
wholesaler that conducts business from a physical location in this
state shall provide at each of its places of business in this state
a point of collection for out-of-service mercury-added
thermostats.
Sec. 361.981. DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION ON POINTS OF
COLLECTION. A retailer or wholesaler that distributes new
thermostats by mail to buyers in this state shall include with the
sale of the new thermostat an Internet website address and
toll-free telephone number with instructions on obtaining a prepaid
mail-in label that a consumer may use to send an out-of-service
mercury-added thermostat to a point of collection for mercury-added
thermostats.
Sec. 361.982. WHOLESALER DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL AND
OUTREACH MATERIALS. A wholesaler shall distribute the educational
and outreach materials developed and made available under Section
361.975 to its customers.
Sec. 361.983. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES. A contractor
who installs heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning components
and who removes a mercury-added thermostat shall handle the
thermostat in accordance with rules adopted under this subchapter
and take the thermostat to a point of collection with a collection
bin operating in accordance with those rules.
Sec. 361.984. RESPONSIBILITIES OF PERSON WHO DEMOLISHES
BUILDING. A person who demolishes a building shall remove any
mercury-added thermostats from the building before demolition in
accordance with all applicable rules adopted under this subchapter
and take the thermostats to a point of collection that is authorized
to collect out-of-service mercury-added thermostats.
Sec. 361.985. COMMISSION ORDER. The commission may order a
manufacturer or group of manufacturers operating a program to
revise the program and to take other necessary actions to comply
with this subchapter.
Sec. 361.986. COMMISSION PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. The
commission by rule shall:
(1) develop performance standards that specify
collection rates expressed as a percentage of out-of-service
mercury-added thermostats becoming waste annually; and
(2) establish a methodology to estimate the number of
out-of-service mercury-added thermostats becoming waste annually.
Sec. 361.987. SURVEY REGARDING MERCURY-ADDED THERMOSTATS
THAT BECOME WASTE. (a) Not later than March 1, 2010, a manufacturer
or group of manufacturers operating a program shall present to the
commission a survey plan and methodology for a survey to provide
statistically valid data on the number of mercury-added thermostats
made by the manufacturer or group of manufacturers that become
waste annually in this state.
(b) The manufacturer or group of manufacturers shall
complete the survey not later than December 1, 2010, and shall
present all of the survey information to the commission not later
than December 31, 2010.
(c) This section expires January 1, 2011.
SECTION 2. (a) A manufacturer's program established under
Section 361.972, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is
required to provide collection bins as provided by Section 361.973,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, only on and after July
1, 2010.
(b) A manufacturer's program established under Section
361.972, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is required
to perform the duties provided by Section 361.974, Health and
Safety Code, as added by this Act, only on and after July 1, 2010.
(c) A manufacturer's program established under Section
361.972, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is required
to develop, update, and make available educational and outreach
materials as provided by Section 361.975, Health and Safety Code,
as added by this Act, only on and after July 1, 2010.
(d) The first progress report required by Section 361.978,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is due April 1, 2011.
(e) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
begin posting the commission's list of noncompliant manufacturers
as provided by Section 361.979, Health and Safety Code, as added by
this Act, on July 1, 2010.
(f) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
adopt the commission's performance standards and methodology
required by Section 361.986, Health and Safety Code, as added by
this Act, not later than January 1, 2013.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.