H.B. No. 3177
AN ACT
relating to the delegation of matters to the executive director of
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 5.122(a), Water Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) The commission by rule or order may delegate to the
executive director the commission's authority to act on an
application or other request to issue, renew, reopen, transfer,
amend, extend, withdraw, revoke, terminate, or modify a permit,
license, certificate, registration, or other authorization or
approval if:
(1) required notice of the application or request for
the authorization or approval has been given;
(2) the holder of or applicant for the authorization
or approval agrees in writing to the action to be taken by the
executive director; and
(3) the application or request:
(A) is uncontested and does not require an
evidentiary hearing; [or]
(B) has become uncontested before parties are
named because each person who requested a contested case hearing
within the time allowed by law has:
(i) withdrawn the request for a contested
case hearing without condition;
(ii) withdrawn the request for a contested
case hearing conditioned only on the withdrawal of all other
hearing requests; or
(iii) agreed in writing to allow the
executive director to make a final decision on the matter; or
(C) has become uncontested because all parties
have agreed in writing to the action to be taken by the executive
director.
SECTION 2. Section 5.351, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), a person affected by a
ruling, order, or decision on a matter delegated to the executive
director under Section 5.122 or other law may, after exhausting any
administrative remedies, file a petition to review, set aside,
modify, or suspend the ruling, order, or decision not later than the
30th day after:
(1) the effective date of the ruling, order, or
decision; or
(2) if the executive director's ruling, order, or
decision is appealed to the commission as authorized by Section
5.122(b) or other law, the earlier of:
(A) the date the commission denies the appeal; or
(B) the date the appeal is overruled by operation
of law in accordance with commission rules.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a final decision made by the executive director of the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality under Section 5.122, Water
Code, as amended by this Act, on or after the effective date of this
Act. A final decision made by the executive director before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the
time the final decision was made, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3177 was passed by the House on May 4,
2017, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 3177 on May 21, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 136, Nays 0,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3177 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 19, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor