By: Hancock H.B. No. 3163
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to responsibilities of the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality and Production Area Authorizations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 27.0513, Water Code, is amended as
follows:
(d) Notwithstanding Sections 5.551, 5.556, 27.011, and
27.018, an application for an authorization submitted after
September 1, 2007, is an uncontested matter not subject to a
contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001,
Government Code., unless the authorization seeks any of the
following:
(1) an amendment to a restoration table value;
(2) the initial establishment of monitoring wells for
any area covered by the authorization, including the location,
number, depth, spacing, and design of the monitoring wells, unless
the executive director uses the recommendation of an independent
third-party expert chosen by the commission; or
(3) an amendment to the type or amount of bond required
for groundwater restoration or by Section 27.073 to assure that
there are sufficient funds available to the state for groundwater
restoration or the plugging of abandoned wells in the area by a
third-party contractor.
(e) The executive director may use an independent
third-party expert if:
(1) the expert meets the qualifications set by
commission rules for such experts;
(2) the applicant for the authorization agrees to pay
the costs for the work of the expert; and
(3) the applicant for the authorization is not
involved in the selection of the expert or the direction of the work
of the expert.
(f) An application seeking approval under Subsections
(d)(1)-(3) is subject to the public notice and contested hearing
requirements provided in Section 27.018.
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. 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, 2011.