87R4913 SLB-F
By: Eckhardt S.B. No. 1294
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice
within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter G-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G-1. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Sec. 5.2901. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Environmental justice community" means a United
States census block group, as determined in accordance with the
most recent United States census, for which:
(A) 30 percent or more of the
noninstitutionalized population consists of persons who have an
income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level; or
(B) 50 percent or more of the population consists
of members of racial minority or ethnic minority groups.
(2) "Office" means the Office of Environmental
Justice.
(3) "Permit" has the meaning assigned by Section
5.752. The term includes an original permit, permit renewal, or
permit amendment.
(4) "Permitted facility" means a facility required to
obtain a permit under:
(A) Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code;
(B) Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code; or
(C) Chapter 26 or 27 of this code.
Sec. 5.2902. CREATION AND GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICE
OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. The Office of Environmental Justice is
created within the commission to protect the public health, general
welfare, and physical property of environmental justice
communities in regard to the issuance of permits.
Sec. 5.2903. RECOMMENDATION ON PERMIT. (a) In this
section, "affected environmental justice community" means an
environmental justice community within three miles of a proposed or
existing permitted facility.
(b) This section applies to an application for a permit
related to a proposed or existing permitted facility located within
three miles of an environmental justice community.
(c) The office shall provide a recommendation to the
commission on whether a permit should be issued. In making the
recommendation, the office shall consider:
(1) whether the cumulative effects of pollution from
the proposed permitted facility or change to an existing facility
on the affected environmental justice community exceed the
statewide average; and
(2) any existing or anticipated vulnerabilities in the
affected environmental justice community, including:
(A) existing pollution levels in the affected
environmental justice community and exposure of the residents of
that community to those pollutants;
(B) limited access to health care by residents of
the affected environmental justice community;
(C) health factors of the residents of the
affected environmental justice community, including the prevalence
of:
(i) asthma and other respiratory diseases;
and
(ii) cancer; and
(D) proximity of the proposed permitted facility
to:
(i) single or multi-family residences;
(ii) schools;
(iii) places of worship;
(iv) day care centers; and
(v) hospitals or other medical facilities.
(d) The office shall provide the recommendation described
by this section not later than the seventh day after the last day of
the public comment period applicable to the permit.
Sec. 5.2904. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATION BY
COMMISSION. In addition to other factors required by law, the
commission shall consider the recommendation of the office in
making a determination about whether to issue a permit to which
Section 5.2903 applies.
Sec. 5.2905. STAFF; OUTSIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (a) The
office shall be adequately staffed to carry out its functions under
this subchapter.
(b) The office may obtain and use outside technical support
to carry out its functions under this subchapter.
SECTION 2. (a) Section 5.2903, Water Code, as added by this
Act, applies to an application for a permit, permit renewal, or
permit amendment to which that section applies submitted to the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective
date of this Act. An application for a permit, permit renewal, or
permit amendment submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
in effect at the time the application was submitted and the former
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) The Office of Environmental Justice within the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality, as created by this Act, is not
required to issue a recommendation under Section 5.2903, Water
Code, as added by this Act, before January 1, 2022.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.