By: Kuempel H.B. No. 3015
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to solid waste management contracts
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 363, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 363.120 to read as follows:
Sec. 363.120. EXCLUSIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS.
(a) In entering into an exclusive contract or franchise
agreement for the provision of solid waste services, a public
agency may limit the scope of a contract to certain and specific
solid waste management services, preserving the right of any
resident, property owner or their agent within the jurisdiction of
that public agency to contract with private, commercial operators
for the provision of services not otherwise subject to the contract
of the public agency.
(b) If, at any time, a public agency chooses to expand the
scope of an exclusive contract or franchise agreement to apply to
other solid waste services and thereby displace a private operator
currently providing services under a separate open market contract
or agreement, the public agency shall:
(1) allow the private solid waste service provider to
continue operation under any existing contract or agreement until
the end of the term of that agreement or two years, whichever occurs
first; and
(2) For an operator providing solid waste management
services without a contract or similar agreement, the public agency
may displace that operator without further obligation 60 days after
providing notice to the operator of the effective date of the
amended, exclusive local contract or franchise.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the displacement of a
solid waste services provider due to the adoption of an exclusive
contract or franchise does not include:
(1) the result of a competitive process between a
public agency and a private company for individual contracts for
provision of solid waste management services to individual
commercial businesses or institutions;
(2) actions by which a public agency, at the end of the
term of an exclusive contract or franchise agreement with one or
more private companies, declines to renew the contract and either
awards the contract to another private company or decides for any
reason to provide the solid waste management service itself; or
(3) solid waste collection services provided in an
area annexed by a municipality, but only to the extent that the
provisions of Section 43.0661(c), Local Government Code, apply.
SECTION 2. Section 363.120, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to a contract or franchise agreement
entered into or amended after the effective date of the Act. A
contract for the provision of solid waste services governed by this
chapter that is entered into or amended before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect when the contract or
franchise agreement was entered into or amended and the former law
is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.