| 1 | 1 | | By: Morales Shaw H.B. No. 3853 |
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| 2 | 2 | | |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 5 | 5 | | AN ACT |
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| 6 | 6 | | relating to authorizing a change in the amount of certain |
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| 7 | 7 | | administrative, civil, and criminal penalties for violating |
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| 8 | 8 | | certain statutes under the jurisdiction of, rules or orders adopted |
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| 9 | 9 | | by, or licenses, permits, or certificates issued by the Texas |
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| 10 | 10 | | Commission on Environmental Quality. |
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| 11 | 11 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 12 | 12 | | SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 7, Water Code, is amended |
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| 13 | 13 | | by adding Section 7.007 to read as follows: |
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| 14 | 14 | | Sec. 7.007. ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNT OF PENALTIES. (a) Not |
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| 15 | 15 | | later than August 1 of each year, the commission shall compute, |
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| 16 | 16 | | adopt, and publish a revised penalty amount for each penalty |
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| 17 | 17 | | imposed by this chapter to account for inflation since the penalty |
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| 18 | 18 | | was adopted. |
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| 19 | 19 | | (b) Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of a penalty |
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| 20 | 20 | | assessed under this chapter must be the greater of: |
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| 21 | 21 | | (1) the amount specified under the section imposing |
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| 22 | 22 | | the penalty; or |
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| 23 | 23 | | (2) the amount computed under Subsection (a) minus 10 |
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| 24 | 24 | | percent of that amount. |
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| 25 | 25 | | (c) In making the computation under Subsection (a), the |
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| 26 | 26 | | commission shall: |
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| 27 | 27 | | (1) consider the Consumer Price Index for All Urban |
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| 28 | 28 | | Consumers, or its successor in function, published by the United |
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| 29 | 29 | | States Bureau of Labor Statistics; |
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| 30 | 30 | | (2) use as the base year for each penalty imposed by |
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| 31 | 31 | | this chapter the year the penalty was enacted; and |
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| 32 | 32 | | (3) adjust the amount of each penalty imposed by this |
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| 33 | 33 | | chapter to account for inflation since the base year used under |
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| 34 | 34 | | Subdivision (2). |
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| 35 | 35 | | (d) The adjusted penalty amount adopted is effective |
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| 36 | 36 | | beginning September 1 following the adjustment. |
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| 37 | 37 | | (e) The commission shall make available to the public |
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| 38 | 38 | | information regarding adjustments made under this section. |
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| 39 | 39 | | SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
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| 40 | 40 | | a violation committed on or after the effective date of this Act. A |
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| 41 | 41 | | violation committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 42 | 42 | | governed by the law in effect when the violation was committed, and |
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| 43 | 43 | | the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 44 | 44 | | purposes of this section, a violation was committed before the |
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| 45 | 45 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the violation was |
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| 46 | 46 | | committed before that date. |
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| 47 | 47 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |
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