| 1 | 1 | | By: Hancock S.B. No. 434 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Filed February 7, 2013; February 13, 2013, |
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| 3 | 3 | | read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; |
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| 4 | 4 | | April 24, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, |
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| 5 | 5 | | Nays 2; April 24, 2013, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 9 | 9 | | AN ACT |
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| 10 | 10 | | relating to the procedural requirements for action by the Texas |
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| 11 | 11 | | Commission on Environmental Quality on applications for production |
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| 12 | 12 | | area authorizations. |
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| 13 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 14 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 27.0513, Water Code, is |
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| 15 | 15 | | amended to read as follows: |
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| 16 | 16 | | (d) Notwithstanding Sections 5.551, 5.556, 27.011, and |
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| 17 | 17 | | 27.018, an application for an authorization submitted after |
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| 18 | 18 | | September 1, 2007, is an uncontested matter not subject to a |
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| 19 | 19 | | contested case hearing or the hearing requirements of Chapter 2001, |
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| 20 | 20 | | Government Code[, unless the authorization seeks any of the |
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| 21 | 21 | | following: |
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| 22 | 22 | | [(1) an amendment to a restoration table value; |
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| 23 | 23 | | [(2) the initial establishment of monitoring wells for |
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| 24 | 24 | | any area covered by the authorization, including the location, |
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| 25 | 25 | | number, depth, spacing, and design of the monitoring wells, unless |
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| 26 | 26 | | the executive director uses the recommendation of an independent |
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| 27 | 27 | | third-party expert chosen by the commission; or |
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| 28 | 28 | | [(3) an amendment to the type or amount of bond |
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| 29 | 29 | | required for groundwater restoration or by Section 27.073 to assure |
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| 30 | 30 | | that there are sufficient funds available to the state for |
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| 31 | 31 | | groundwater restoration or the plugging of abandoned wells in the |
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| 32 | 32 | | area by a third-party contractor]. |
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| 33 | 33 | | SECTION 2. Subsections (e) and (f), Section 27.0513, Water |
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| 34 | 34 | | Code, are repealed. |
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| 35 | 35 | | SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 36 | 36 | | to an application for an authorization that is submitted to the |
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| 37 | 37 | | Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective |
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| 38 | 38 | | date of this Act. An application for an authorization that was |
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| 39 | 39 | | submitted to the commission before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 40 | 40 | | governed by the law in effect at the time the application was |
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| 41 | 41 | | submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that |
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| 42 | 42 | | purpose. |
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| 43 | 43 | | SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
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| 44 | 44 | | a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
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| 45 | 45 | | provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
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| 46 | 46 | | Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
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| 47 | 47 | | Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |
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| 48 | 48 | | * * * * * |
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