82R3322 SLB-D
By: Estes S.B. No. 1146
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to programs funded under the Texas emissions reduction
plan fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 386.051(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) Under the plan, the commission and the comptroller shall
provide grants or other funding for:
(1) the diesel emissions reduction incentive program
established under Subchapter C, including for infrastructure
projects established under that subchapter;
(2) the motor vehicle purchase or lease incentive
program established under Subchapter D;
(3) air quality research under Section 386.059 [the
new technology research and development program established under
Chapter 387];
(4) the clean school bus program established under
Chapter 390; and
(5) the new technology implementation grant program
established under Chapter 391.
SECTION 2. Section 386.058(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) The governor shall appoint to the advisory board:
(1) a representative of the trucking industry;
(2) a representative of the air conditioning
manufacturing industry;
(3) a representative of the electric utility industry;
(4) a representative of regional transportation; and
(5) a representative of the nonprofit organization
described by Section 386.059 [386.252(a)(2)].
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 386, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 386.059 to read as follows:
Sec. 386.059. AIR QUALITY RESEARCH. (a) The commission
shall contract with a nonprofit organization or institution of
higher education to establish and administer a program to support
research related to air quality.
(b) The board of directors of a nonprofit organization
establishing and administering the research program related to air
quality under this section may not have more than 11 members, must
include two persons with relevant scientific expertise to be
nominated by the commission, and may not include more than four
county judges selected from counties in the
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria and Dallas-Fort Worth nonattainment
areas. The two persons with relevant scientific expertise to be
nominated by the commission may be employees or officers of the
commission, provided that they do not participate in funding
decisions affecting the granting of funds by the commission to a
nonprofit organization on whose board they serve.
(c) The commission shall provide oversight as appropriate
for grants provided under the program established under this
section.
(d) A nonprofit organization or institution of higher
education shall submit to the commission for approval a budget for
the disposition of funds granted under the program established
under this section.
(e) A nonprofit organization or institution of higher
education shall be reimbursed for costs incurred in establishing
and administering the research program related to air quality under
this section. Reimbursable administrative costs of a nonprofit
organization or institution of higher education may not exceed 10
percent of the program budget.
(f) A nonprofit organization that receives grants from the
commission under this section is subject to Chapters 551 and 552,
Government Code.
SECTION 4. Section 386.108(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission shall provide funding under Section
386.252(a) [386.252(a)(1)] for infrastructure projects.
SECTION 5. Section 386.252, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by reenacting and amending Subsection (a), as amended by
Chapters 1125 (H.B. 1796) and 1232 (S.B. 1759), Acts of the 81st
Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, and by adding Subsection (a-1)
to read as follows:
(a) Of the money [Money] in the fund, 96.5 percent may be
used only to implement and administer programs established under
the plan and shall be allocated as follows:
(1) [for the diesel emissions reduction incentive
program, 87.5 percent of the money in the fund, of which:
[(A)] not more than four percent may be used for
the clean school bus program;
(2) [(B)] not more than 10 percent may be used for
on-road diesel purchase or lease incentives; [and]
(3) [(C)] a specified amount may be used for the new
technology implementation grant program, from which a defined
amount may be set aside for electricity storage projects related to
renewable energy;
(4) five percent shall be used for the clean fleet
program;
(5) [(2) for the new technology research and
development program, nine percent of the money in the fund, of
which:
[(A)] up to $200,000 is allocated for a health
effects study;
(6) up to [(B)] $500,000 is to be deposited in the
state treasury to the credit of the clean air account created under
Section 382.0622 to supplement funding for air quality planning
activities in affected counties;
(7) up to $2 million [(C) not less than 20 percent]
is to be allocated annually [each year] to support research related
to air quality as provided by Section 386.059 [387.010];
(8) up to $216,000 is allocated annually to the
commission to [and
[(D) the balance is allocated each year to the
commission to be used to:
[(i) implement and administer the new
technology research and development program for the purpose of
identifying, testing, and evaluating new emissions-reducing
technologies with potential for commercialization in this state and
to facilitate their certification or verification; and
[(ii)] contract with the Energy Systems
Laboratory at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station for
[$216,000 annually for] the development and annual computation of
creditable statewide emissions reductions obtained through wind
and other renewable energy resources for the state implementation
plan; and
(9) the balance of the money in the fund allocated by
this subsection is allocated to the remaining programs of the
diesel emissions reduction incentive program.
(a-1) Two [(3) two] percent of the money in the fund is
allocated to the commission and 1.5 percent is allocated to the
laboratory for administrative costs incurred by the commission and
the laboratory.
SECTION 6. Section 447.011(h), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(h) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall
obtain information on any fuel-saving technology that appears to
reduce particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, or
hydrocarbon emissions. [The Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality may use this information to fund the United States
Environmental Protection Agency verification of a technology in
accordance with Section 387.003, Health and Safety Code.]
SECTION 7. Chapter 387, Health and Safety Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 8. A grant issued under Chapter 387, Health and
Safety Code, before the effective date of this Act is governed by
Chapter 387, Health and Safety Code, as it existed immediately
before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.