By: Fraser S.B. No. 1003
(In the Senate - Filed February 28, 2011; March 16, 2011,
read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
March 23, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8,
Nays 0; March 23, 2011, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to penalties for, and emergency orders suspending, the
operation of a rock crusher or certain concrete plants without a
current permit under the Texas Clean Air Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 7.052, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-3) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (b-3), the [The] amount
of the penalty for operating a rock crusher or a concrete plant that
performs wet batching, dry batching, or central mixing, that is
required to obtain a permit under Section 382.0518, Health and
Safety Code, and that is operating without the required permit is
$10,000. Each day that a continuing violation occurs is a separate
violation.
(b-3) If a person that is permitted to operate a facility as
described by Subsection (b) notifies the commission before the date
of the expiration of the permit that the person intends to operate
the facility past that date, the commission may impose a penalty of
not greater than $10,000 for each violation. The commission may
consider each day that the facility is operated without the
required permit a separate violation for the purposes of imposing a
penalty.
SECTION 2. Section 5.5145, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 5.5145. EMERGENCY ORDER CONCERNING OPERATION OF ROCK
CRUSHER OR CONCRETE PLANT WITHOUT PERMIT. The commission may
[shall] issue an emergency order under this subchapter suspending
operations of a rock crusher or a concrete plant that performs wet
batching, dry batching, or central mixing and is required to obtain
a permit under Section 382.0518, Health and Safety Code, and is
operating without the necessary permit.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
7.052, Water Code, applies only to a violation that occurs on or
after the effective date of this Act. A violation that occurs
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect on the date the violation occurred, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. 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.
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