89R4421 KRM-F
By: Eckhardt, et al. S.B. No. 561
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. 5.291. 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. 5.292. 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. 5.293. 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 only 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 locations where children and elderly and medically vulnerable
people commonly gather, including:
(i) single or multifamily 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. 5.294. 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 5.293 applies.
Sec. 5.295. 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 5.293, Water Code, as added by this
Act, applies only to an application for a permit, permit renewal, or
permit amendment 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 5.293, Water Code,
as added by this Act, before January 1, 2026.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.