By: Darby H.B. No. 1653
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operations of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Disposal Compact waste disposal facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 401.003(15), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(15) "Person affected" means a person who demonstrates
that the person has suffered or will suffer actual injury or
economic damage and, if the person is not a local government:
(A) is a resident of a Texas county, or a Texas
county adjacent to that county, in which nuclear or radioactive
material is or will be located; or
(B) is doing business or has a legal interest in
land in the county in which nuclear or radioactive material is or
will be located or adjacent Texas county.
SECTION 2. Section 401.116, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding subsections (e) and (f) to read as follows:
(e) The commission may not seek further public comment or
hold a public hearing under the procedures provided by Subsections
(b)-(d) on a minor amendment to the license.
(f) In this section, "minor amendment" is one which:
(A) authorizes a change in the type, volume or
concentration limits of wastes to be received to the extent the
change does not increase the total volume and curie capacities
approved by the commission in the existing license; or
(B) authorizes a new technology or process that
requires an engineering review located on a site in which an
environmental assessment has been completed and the new technology
or process does not pose a potential detrimental impact on public
health and safety, worker safety, or environmental health.
SECTION 3. Section 401.202, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) If the commission issues a compact waste disposal
facility license that is later reversed or remanded to the
commission by order of a court on procedural error:
(1) all terms and conditions of the license shall
remain in effect until the issues on remand from the court have
been addressed by the commission in a final order; and
(2) the commission's executive director may enter
into a compliance agreement with the license holder authorizing
continued operation of the disposal facility until the issues on
remand from the court have been addressed by the commission in a
final order.
SECTION 4. Section 401.207(e), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(e) The compact waste disposal facility license holder may
not accept more than 50,000 total cubic feet of nonparty compact
waste annually. The compact waste disposal facility license holder
may not accept more than [120,000 curies of nonparty compact waste
annually, except that in the first year the license holder may
accept] 220,000 curies of nonparty compact waste annually. The
legislature by general law may establish revised limits after
considering the results of the study under Section 401.208.
SECTION 5. Section 401.245, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by deleting subsection (h) as follows:
[(h) The administrative law judge assigned to the contested
case involving the adoption of fees under this section shall issue a
proposal for decision on fees proposed by the commission not later
than the first anniversary of the date the State Office of
Administrative Hearings assumes jurisdiction of the case.]
SECTION 6. Section 401.2455, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by deleting subsection (b) as follows:
[(b) An extension of the period during which interim rates
apply may not be granted. If the State Office of Administrative
Hearings has not issued a proposal for decision before the
expiration of the period under Section 401.245(h), all disposal at
the compact waste disposal facility must cease until the rates arc
adopted.]
SECTION 7. 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, 2013.