S.B. No. 347
AN ACT
relating to funding for the operations of the Texas Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission and to the disposal
of certain low-level radioactive waste.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 401.052, Health and
Safety Code, as amended by Chapters 580 (H.B. 1678) and 1067 (H.B.
1567), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, is
reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(d) Fees assessed under this section:
(1) may provide additional revenue to support the
activities of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Commission;
(2) may not exceed $10 per cubic foot of shipped
low-level radioactive waste;
(3) [(2)] shall be collected by the department and
deposited to the credit of the perpetual care account;
(4) [(3)] shall be used [exclusively] by the
department for emergency planning for and response to
transportation accidents involving low-level radioactive waste,
including first responder training in counties through which
transportation routes are designated in accordance with Subsection
(a); and
(5) [(4)] may not be collected on waste disposed of at a federal waste disposal facility[shall be suspended when the amount of fees collected reaches $500,000, except that if the balance of fees collected is reduced to $350,000 or less, the assessments shall be reinstituted to bring the balance of fees collected to $500,000].
at a federal waste disposal facility [shall be suspended when the [shall be suspended when the
amount of fees collected reaches $500,000, except that if the
balance of fees collected is reduced to $350,000 or less, the
assessments shall be reinstituted to bring the balance of fees
collected to $500,000].].
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 401.109, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The department or commission may require a holder of a
license issued by the agency to provide security acceptable to the
agency to assure performance of the license holder's obligations
under this chapter. The department [or commission] shall deposit
security provided to the department under this section to the
credit of the perpetual care account. The department [or
commission] by rule shall provide that any evidence of security
must be made payable to the credit of the perpetual care account.
The commission shall deposit security provided to the commission
under this section to the credit of the environmental radiation and
perpetual care account. The commission shall provide that security
must be made payable to the credit of the environmental radiation
and perpetual care account.
SECTION 3. Section 401.152, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to
read as follows:
(b) The department [agency] shall use the security provided
by the license holder to pay the costs of actions that are taken or
that are to be taken under this section. The department [agency]
shall send to the comptroller a copy of its order together with
necessary written requests authorizing the comptroller to:
(1) enforce security supplied by the license holder;
(2) convert an amount of security into cash, as
necessary; and
(3) disburse from the security in the radiation and
perpetual care account the amount necessary to pay the costs.
(c) The commission shall use the security provided by the
license holder to pay the costs of actions taken or to be taken
under this section, including costs associated with the Texas
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission. The
commission shall send to the comptroller a copy of its order
together with necessary written requests authorizing the
comptroller to:
(1) enforce security supplied by the license holder;
(2) convert an amount of security to cash, as
necessary; and
(3) disburse from the security in the environmental
radiation and perpetual care account the amount necessary to pay
the costs.
SECTION 4. Section 401.207, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (d-1), (d-2), (d-3), and (e-2) and
amending Subsections (e), (e-1), and (h) to read as follows:
(d-1) Beginning September 1, 2015, the compact waste
disposal facility license holder may accept nonparty compact waste
for disposal at the facility only if:
(1) the waste has been volume-reduced, if eligible, by
at least a factor of three in a manner consistent with this
subchapter as provided by commission rule; and
(2) the compact waste disposal facility license holder
collects a surcharge under Subsection (g).
(d-2) If volume reduction of a low-level radioactive waste
stream would result in a change of waste classification to a class
higher than Class C, the payment of the fee and compliance with
other requirements of Subsection (d-1) do not apply.
(d-3) The commission may assess an additional fee on a
nonparty compact waste generator for failing to comply with the
volume reduction requirements established under this section. The
fee shall be deposited to the credit of the low-level radioactive
waste fund under Section 401.249. Fees deposited under this
subsection may be transferred and used only to support the
operations of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Commission under Section 401.251.
(e) The compact waste disposal facility license holder may
not collect a fee under this section or enter into a contract for
the disposal of nonparty low-level radioactive waste that has been
designated as Class A low-level radioactive waste under 10 C.F.R.
Section 61.55 and commission rule unless the waste is
containerized. The compact waste disposal facility license holder
may collect a fee and dispose of:
(1) not more than the greater of:
(A) 1.167 million curies of nonparty compact
waste; or
(B) an amount of nonparty compact waste equal to
30 percent of the initial licensed capacity of the facility; and
(2) not more than 275,000 curies of nonparty compact
waste in any fiscal year [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].
(e-1) The legislature by general law may establish revised
limits under Subsection (e) after considering the results of the
study under Section 401.208.
(e-2) [(e-1)] The commission's executive director, on
completion of the study under Section 401.208, may prohibit the
license holder from accepting any additional nonparty compact waste
if the commission determines from the study that the capacity of the
facility will be limited, regardless of whether the limit under
Subsection (f) has been reached.
(h) A surcharge collected under Subsection (g) shall be
deposited to the credit of the environmental radiation and
perpetual care account [low-level radioactive waste fund].
SECTION 5. Subsection (c), Section 401.208, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(c) Not later than December 1, 2016 [2012], the commission
shall submit a final report of the results of the study to the
standing committees of the senate and the house of representatives
with jurisdiction over the disposal of low-level radioactive waste.
SECTION 6. Section 401.218, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) In addition to the fees charged to support the
operations of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Commission, the commission's executive director may charge
a license holder a fee to cover the administrative costs of the
executive director's action to adjust, correct, or otherwise modify
a license.
SECTION 7. Section 401.249, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to
read as follows:
(e) The commission may transfer money from the low-level
radioactive waste fund to the environmental radiation and perpetual
care account to make payments required by the commission under
Section 401.303. The commission shall notify the Texas Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission of an action the
commission takes under this subsection.
(f) The commission shall deposit in the account the portion
of the fee collected under Section 401.245 that is calculated to
support the activities of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Disposal Compact Commission as required by Section 4.04(4), Texas
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact (Section 403.006 of
this code). The fee shall be assessed for party state compact waste
and nonparty compact waste.
SECTION 8. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 401.251, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) On the first day of each state fiscal year, the
comptroller shall transfer from the low-level radioactive waste
fund to the low-level radioactive waste disposal compact commission
account an amount equal to the amount appropriated for that state
fiscal year. On September 30 of each fiscal year, the comptroller
shall transfer the unexpended and unencumbered money from the
previous fiscal year in the low-level radioactive waste disposal
compact commission account to the low-level radioactive waste fund
[The commission shall deposit in the account the portion of the fee
collected under Section 401.245 that is calculated to support the
activities of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Commission as required by Section 4.04(4), Texas Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact (Section 403.006 of this code)].
(c) Money in the low-level radioactive waste disposal
compact commission account may be used [appropriated] only to
support the operations of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Disposal Compact Commission.
SECTION 9. Subsection (d), Section 401.301, Health and
Safety Code is amended to read as follows:
(d) The commission and department shall [may] require that
each person who holds a specific license issued by the agency pay to
the agency an additional five percent of the appropriate fee set
under Subsection (b). Fees collected by the department under this
subsection shall be deposited to the credit of the perpetual care
account. Fees collected by the commission under this subsection
shall be deposited to the environmental radiation and perpetual
care account. The fees are not refundable. The holder of a
specific license authorizing the extraction, processing, or
concentration of uranium or thorium from ore is not required to pay
the additional fee described by this subsection before the
beginning of operations under the license.
SECTION 10. Subsection (g), Section 401.303, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(g) If a license holder satisfies the obligations under this
chapter, the issuing agency shall have the comptroller promptly
refund to the license holder from the perpetual care account or the
environmental radiation and perpetual care account, as applicable,
the excess of the amount of all payments made by the license holder
to the issuing agency and the investment earnings of those payments
over the amount determined to be required for the continuing
maintenance and surveillance of land, buildings, and radioactive
material conveyed to the state.
SECTION 11. Subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g),
Section 401.305, Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as
follows:
(b) The department [and commission each] shall deposit to
the credit of the perpetual care account money and security it
receives [they receive] under this chapter, including an
administrative penalty collected by the department under Sections
401.384-401.390 but excluding fees collected under Sections
401.301(a)-(c) and 401.302. Interest earned on money in the
perpetual care account shall be credited to the perpetual care
account.
(c) Money and security in the perpetual care account may be
administered by the department [or commission] only for storage,
maintenance, and distribution of mammography medical records or the
decontamination, decommissioning, stabilization, reclamation,
maintenance, surveillance, control, storage, and disposal of
radioactive substances for the protection of the public health and
safety and the environment under this chapter and for refunds under
Section 401.303.
(d) Money and security in the perpetual care account may not
be used for normal operating expenses of the department [or
commission].
(e) The department [or commission] may use money in the
perpetual care account to pay for measures:
(1) to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of
abandonment of radioactive substances, default on a lawful
obligation, insolvency, or other inability by the holder of a
license issued by the department [or commission] to meet the
requirements of this chapter or of department [or commission]
rules;
(2) to assure the protection of the public health and
safety and the environment from the adverse effects of ionizing
radiation; and
(3) to protect the health and safety of mammography
patients by assuring mammography medical records are made available
to affected patients.
(f) The department [or commission] may provide, by the terms
of a contract or lease entered into between the department [or
commission] and any person, by the terms of a mammography
certification issued by the department [or commission] to any
person, or by the terms of a license issued to any person, for the
storage, maintenance, and distribution of mammography medical
records. The department [or commission] may provide, by the terms
of a contract or lease entered into between the department [or
commission] and any person or by the terms of a license issued by
the department [or commission] to any person, for the
decontamination, closure, decommissioning, reclamation,
surveillance, or other care of a site or facility subject to
department [or commission] jurisdiction under this chapter as
needed to carry out the purpose of this chapter.
(g) The existence of the perpetual care account does not
make the department [or commission] liable for the costs of
storage, maintenance, and distribution of mammography medical
records arising from a mammography certification holder's failure
to store, maintain, and make available mammography medical records
or for the costs of decontamination, transfer, transportation,
reclamation, surveillance, or disposal of radioactive substances
arising from a license holder's abandonment of radioactive
substances, default on a lawful obligation, insolvency, or
inability to meet the requirements of this chapter or of department
[or commission] rules.
SECTION 12. Subchapter H, Chapter 401, Health and Safety Code,
is amended by adding Sections 401.306 and 401.307 to read as follows:
Sec. 401.306. ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION AND PERPETUAL CARE
ACCOUNT. (a) The environmental radiation and perpetual care
account is an account in the general revenue fund to support the
activities of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
Compact Commission.
(b) The commission shall deposit to the credit of the
environmental radiation and perpetual care account money and
security it receives under this chapter, including fees collected
under Section 401.301(d). Interest earned on money in the
environmental radiation and perpetual care account shall be
credited to the environmental radiation and perpetual care account.
(c) Money and security in the environmental radiation and
perpetual care account may be administered by the commission only
for the decontamination, decommissioning, stabilization,
reclamation, maintenance, surveillance, control, storage, and
disposal of radioactive substances for the protection of the public
health and safety and the environment under this chapter and for
refunds under Section 401.303.
(d) Money and security in the environmental radiation and
perpetual care account may not be used for normal operating
expenses of the commission.
(e) The commission may use money in the environmental
radiation and perpetual care account to pay for measures:
(1) to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of
abandonment of radioactive substances, default on a lawful
obligation, insolvency, or other inability by the holder of a
license issued by the commission to meet the requirements of this
chapter or of commission rules; and
(2) to ensure the protection of the public health and
safety and the environment.
(f) The commission may provide, by the terms of a contract
or lease entered into between the commission and any person, or by
the terms of a license issued to any person, for the
decontamination, closure, decommissioning, reclamation,
surveillance, or other care of a site or facility subject to
commission jurisdiction under this chapter as needed to carry out
the purposes of this chapter.
(g) The existence of the environmental radiation and
perpetual care account does not make the commission liable for the
costs of decontamination, transfer, transportation, reclamation,
surveillance, or disposal of radioactive substances arising from a
license holder's abandonment of radioactive substances, default on
a lawful obligation, insolvency, or inability to meet the
requirements of this chapter or of commission rules.
Sec. 401.307. PERPETUAL CARE ACCOUNT AND ENVIRONMENTAL
RADIATION AND PERPETUAL CARE ACCOUNT CAPS. (a) The fees imposed
under Sections 401.052(d) and 401.301(d) are suspended when the sum
of the balances of the perpetual care account and the environmental
radiation and perpetual care account reaches $100 million. The
fees are reinstated when the sum of the balances of the perpetual
care account and the environmental radiation and perpetual care
account falls to $50 million or less.
(b) The surcharge collected under Section 401.207(g) is
collected without regard to the balances of the perpetual care
account and the environmental radiation and perpetual care account.
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a fee imposed by the
commission under Section 401.301(d) on the holder of a license
authorizing the extraction, processing, or concentration of
uranium or thorium from ore is suspended when the amount in the
environmental radiation and perpetual care account attributable to
those fees reaches $2 million. If the amount in that account
attributable to those fees is reduced to $1.5 million or less, the
fee is reinstated until the amount reaches $2 million.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a fee imposed under
Section 401.052(d) is suspended from imposition against a party
state compact waste generator when the amount in the perpetual care
account attributable to those fees reaches $500,000. If the amount
in that account attributable to those fees is reduced to $350,000 or
less, the fee is reinstated until the amount reaches $500,000.
(e) This section does not relieve a generator from liability
for a transportation accident involving low-level radioactive
waste.
SECTION 13. The following sections of the Health and Safety
Code are repealed:
(1) Subsection (h), Section 401.245;
(2) Subsection (b), Section 401.2455;
(3) Subsection (e), Section 401.301; and
(4) Section 403.0052.
SECTION 14. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective
date of this Act, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
shall adopt rules to implement Subsection (d-1), Section 401.207,
and Subsection (d), Section 401.218, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act.
(b) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
Act but not later than January 1, 2014, the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality and the Department of State Health Services
shall update the portion of the memorandum of understanding between
the two agencies under Section 401.069, Health and Safety Code,
that governs each agency's role regarding the regulation and
oversight of radioactive materials and sources of radiation.
SECTION 15. The changes in law made by this Act apply only
to a contract for the disposal of compact waste or nonparty compact
waste that is signed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
contract signed before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the contract was signed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 16. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 347 passed the Senate on
March 21, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 24, 2013, by the
following vote: Yeas 26, Nays 5.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 347 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 22, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 130,
Nays 15, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor