Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2998 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	86R8046 SLB-D
2	2	By: Talarico H.B. No. 2998
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to lead in drinking water at schools and child care
8	8	facilities.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 341.040, Health and Safety Code, is
11	11	amended to read as follows:
12	12	Sec. 341.040. DEFINITIONS [DEFINITION]. In this
13	13	subchapter:
14	14	(1) "Child care facility" has the meaning assigned by
15	15	Section 88.001.
16	16	(2) "Commission" [, "commission"] means the Texas
17	17	Commission on Environmental Quality.
18	18	(3) "Drinking water outlet" means any water fountain,
19	19	faucet, or tap regularly used for drinking or food preparation,
20	20	including ice-making and hot drink machines.
21	21	(4) "Elevated lead level" means a lead concentration
22	22	in drinking water that exceeds one part per billion.
23	23	(5) "Executive director" means the executive director
24	24	of the commission.
25	25	(6) "Lead service line" means a pipe and its fittings,
26	26	which are not lead free as defined by the federal Safe Drinking
27	27	Water Act (42 U.S.C. Section 300g-6), that connect a drinking water
28	28	main to a drinking water outlet.
29	29	(7) "Local health department" has the meaning assigned
30	30	by Section 88.001.
31	31	(8) "Open-enrollment charter school" and "private
32	32	school" have the meanings assigned by Section 5.001, Education
33	33	Code.
34	34	(9) "Public water system" has the meaning assigned by
35	35	Section 15.602, Water Code.
36	36	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 341, Health and Safety
37	37	Code, is amended by adding Sections 341.051, 341.052, 341.053,
38	38	341.054, and 341.055 to read as follows:
39	39	Sec. 341.051. LEAD SERVICE LINE REPLACEMENT. (a) Each
40	40	public water system shall fully replace lead service lines in each
41	41	public school, private school, or child care facility that is
42	42	served by the public water system. The replacement shall be paid
43	43	for by the public water system, regardless of ownership of any
44	44	portion of the service line, and shall be performed in coordination
45	45	with the relevant municipality, school, or child care facility. The
46	46	replacement must conform to the commission's technical guidance
47	47	under Section 341.055.
48	48	(b) A public water system shall provide each school
49	49	district, open-enrollment charter school, private school, and
50	50	child care facility that the public water system serves any
51	51	information in its possession relating to the location of lead
52	52	service lines. Each school district, open-enrollment charter
53	53	school, private school, and child care facility shall determine
54	54	which of its buildings receive drinking water through lead service
55	55	lines and report the information to the commission.
56	56	(c) The commission shall ensure that lead service lines are
57	57	disposed of in accordance with hazardous waste laws and not
58	58	disposed of in a landfill or incinerated.
59	59	Sec. 341.052. PREVENTING LEAD CONTAMINATION. (a) Each
60	60	public school, private school, and child care facility shall
61	61	develop and adopt a plan of action to prevent elevated lead levels
62	62	in all water used for drinking or cooking. The plan of action must
63	63	include:
64	64	(1) installing and maintaining filters certified by
65	65	the National Sanitation Foundation at all drinking water outlets in
66	66	each school or facility building; and
67	67	(2) an inventory of lead-bearing parts within the
68	68	school or facility's water delivery system, including fixtures and
69	69	plumbing with lead soldering.
70	70	(b) A public school, private school, or child care facility
71	71	may, if consistent with other obligations in law, remove some
72	72	drinking water outlets from operation, instead of installing
73	73	filters on those outlets, if every child has reasonable access to
74	74	free, safe drinking water.
75	75	(c) To the extent that replacement is both feasible and
76	76	cost-effective, each public school, private school, or child care
77	77	facility shall replace the items identified in the lead-bearing
78	78	parts inventory under Subsection (a)(2).
79	79	(d) The plan of action adopted under Subsection (a) may
80	80	include any other measures to reduce lead contamination of drinking
81	81	water outlets, consistent with the commission's technical guidance
82	82	under Section 341.055.
83	83	(e) A public school, private school, or child care facility
84	84	may revise the school or facility's plan of action, especially in
85	85	response to public input, if the plan of action complies with the
86	86	commission's technical guidance under Section 341.055.
87	87	(f) A public school, private school, or child care facility
88	88	may seek the assistance of a local health department, a public water
89	89	system, or the commission to comply with the provisions of this
90	90	section.
91	91	(g) Nothing in this section prevents a public school,
92	92	private school, or child care facility from conducting more
93	93	immediate lead remediation when a test indicates that a drinking
94	94	water outlet has an elevated lead level, as provided by Section
95	95	341.053(c).
96	96	Sec. 341.053. TESTING AND REMEDIATION. (a) Each public
97	97	school, private school, or child care facility shall undertake
98	98	periodic testing of the drinking water outlets in each school or
99	99	child care facility for the presence of lead. Each test for lead
100	100	shall be conducted by a laboratory certified for this purpose by the
101	101	executive director, in accordance with the sampling and testing
102	102	methods specified in the technical guidance under Section 341.055.
103	103	Each school or child care facility shall perform the testing
104	104	required by this section at least once per year, unless the
105	105	executive director determines, on a case-by-case basis, that a
106	106	greater or lesser frequency of testing is necessary or sufficient
107	107	to ensure the public health, including timely testing after
108	108	replacement of lead service lines.
109	109	(b) Nothing in this section prevents a public school,
110	110	private school, or child care facility from conducting more
111	111	frequent testing than required under this section.
112	112	(c) If testing reveals an elevated lead level at a drinking
113	113	water outlet, the public school, private school, or child care
114	114	facility shall, not later than 24 hours after receiving the test
115	115	results, close off access to the drinking water outlet and report
116	116	the test results to the commission. Not later than the 30th day
117	117	after receiving test results showing one or more drinking water
118	118	outlets have elevated levels of lead, the public school, private
119	119	school, or child care facility must either:
120	120	(1) permanently shut or close off access to the
121	121	affected drinking water outlets and provide an alternative source
122	122	of safe water without elevated lead levels; or
123	123	(2) install and maintain filters certified by the
124	124	National Sanitation Foundation at the drinking water outlets that
125	125	have elevated lead levels.
126	126	(d) A public school, private school, or child care facility
127	127	shall take additional measures if necessary to eliminate elevated
128	128	lead levels at the drinking water outlets, consistent with the
129	129	technical guidance under Section 341.055.
130	130	Sec. 341.054. TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW. (a)
131	131	Each public school, private school, or child care facility shall:
132	132	(1) submit to the commission, the Texas Education
133	133	Agency, and the department:
134	134	(A) the plan of action adopted under Section
135	135	341.052 and any modifications to the plan; and
136	136	(B) information on testing activities conducted
137	137	under Section 341.053, including:
138	138	(i) the date the testing was completed;
139	139	(ii) the location and type of each drinking
140	140	water outlet tested;
141	141	(iii) the complete results of each test;
142	142	and
143	143	(iv) any measures being taken under Section
144	144	341.053(c) to remediate a drinking water outlet found to have an
145	145	elevated lead level;
146	146	(2) maintain copies of information submitted under
147	147	Subdivision (1) in a suitable location for inspection by the public
148	148	and on the Internet website of the school or facility;
149	149	(3) notify parent, teacher, and employee
150	150	organizations of the availability of the submitted information; and
151	151	(4) designate a person to serve as the contact person
152	152	for communications with the commission and the public regarding the
153	153	lead testing and remediation activities.
154	154	(b) If testing conducted under Section 341.053 reveals an
155	155	elevated lead level at a drinking water outlet, the public school,
156	156	private school, or child care facility shall, within one business
157	157	day, directly notify teachers, school personnel, and the parent of
158	158	or person standing in parental relation to each student through
159	159	written notice, electronic mail, or other means approved by the
160	160	commission. The notification must include:
161	161	(1) a summary of the results of the testing and
162	162	information on the availability of the complete test results for
163	163	public inspection at a suitable location and on the Internet
164	164	website of the school or facility;
165	165	(2) a description of any remedial measures being taken
166	166	under Section 341.053;
167	167	(3) general information on the public health effects
168	168	and risks posed by lead in drinking water and information on the
169	169	availability of additional resources concerning lead in drinking
170	170	water, as outlined in the technical guidance under Section 341.055;
171	171	and
172	172	(4) the name and contact information of the person
173	173	designated under Subsection (a)(4) to communicate with the public.
174	174	(c) At each drinking water outlet, the public school,
175	175	private school, or child care facility shall post an electronically
176	176	accessible code with information on testing and remediation for
177	177	that outlet. The information must include the maintenance schedule
178	178	and log for installed filters certified by the National Sanitation
179	179	Foundation, unless the drinking water outlet is equipped with a
180	180	clearly visible indicator for filter replacement.
181	181	Sec. 341.055. TECHNICAL GUIDANCE. (a) The commission shall
182	182	issue technical guidance that is at least as protective of the
183	183	public health as the technical guidance for reducing lead in
184	184	drinking water at schools issued by the United States Environmental
185	185	Protection Agency. Provisions of the technical guidance related to
186	186	testing to determine the presence and level of lead in water must be
187	187	designed to maximize detection of lead in water and must prohibit
188	188	sampling or testing methods that tend to mask lead contamination,
189	189	including pre-stagnation flushing and removal of aerators prior to
190	190	sampling.
191	191	(b) The commission shall provide the technical guidance
192	192	described by Subsection (a), a list of laboratories certified to
193	193	conduct lead testing, and any other information the commission
194	194	considers appropriate to each school district, open-enrollment
195	195	charter school, private school, and child care facility.
196	196	SECTION 3. (a) Not later than December 1, 2019, the Texas
197	197	Commission on Environmental Quality shall order each public water
198	198	system to replace all lead service lines at each public school,
199	199	private school, and child care facility as required by Section
200	200	341.051(a), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
201	201	(b) Not later than September 1, 2022, each public water
202	202	system shall fully replace lead service lines at all public
203	203	schools, private schools, and child care facilities that it serves,
204	204	as required by Section 341.051(a), Health and Safety Code, as added
205	205	by this Act.
206	206	(c) Not later than October 1, 2019, each public water system
207	207	shall provide school districts, open-enrollment charter schools,
208	208	private schools, and child care facilities that it serves with
209	209	information relating to the location of lead service lines, as
210	210	required by Section 341.051(b), Health and Safety Code, as added by
211	211	this Act.
212	212	(d) Not later than November 1, 2019, each school district,
213	213	open-enrollment charter school, private school, and child care
214	214	facility shall inform the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
215	215	which buildings are served by lead service lines as required by
216	216	Section 341.051(b), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
217	217	(e) Not later than March 1, 2020, each public school,
218	218	private school, and child care facility shall adopt a plan of action
219	219	to prevent elevated lead levels in all water used for drinking or
220	220	cooking as required by Section 341.052(a), Health and Safety Code,
221	221	as added by this Act.
222	222	(f) Not later than March 1, 2021, each public school,
223	223	private school, and child care facility shall install and maintain
224	224	filters certified by the National Sanitation Foundation, as
225	225	required by Section 341.052(a), Health and Safety Code, as added by
226	226	this Act.
227	227	(g) Not later than September 1, 2021, each public school,
228	228	private school, and child care facility shall replace the items
229	229	identified in the lead-bearing parts inventory, as required by
230	230	Section 341.052(c), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
231	231	(h) Not later than December 1, 2019, each public school,
232	232	private school, or child care facility shall perform an initial
233	233	test of each drinking water outlet, as required by Section
234	234	341.053(a), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
235	235	(i) Not later than October 15, 2019, the Texas Commission on
236	236	Environmental Quality shall post the technical guidance required by
237	237	Section 341.055, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, on
238	238	the commission's Internet website.
239	239	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
240	240	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
241	241	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
242	242	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
243	243	Act takes effect September 1, 2019.