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4 Document(s) [ Subject: Vehicle pollution ]

Committee: Senate Transportation and Homeland Security
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: The Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security interim report to the 82nd Legislature.
Subjects: Air quality | Driver licenses | Driver Responsibility Program | Drug trafficking | Drug-related crimes | Emergency management | Environmental permits | Environmental protection | Gangs | Highway finance | Homeland security | Metropolitan Planning Organizations | Outsourcing | Regional mobility authorities | Semi-trailer trucks | Tax increment reinvestment zones | Toll roads | Traffic | Transportation | Transportation, Texas Department of | Tropical storms | Uninsured motorists | Vehicle pollution |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 In5hs
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [56 pages  File size: 2,085 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Recommend ways to maximize the contribution of alternative transportation modes and evaluate what impacts they have on congestion and air quality. Identify statutory barriers to reducing transportation's impact on air quality and preventing any restrictions on or loss of federal funds due to air quality. Study the incidence of fraudulent automotive emissions certifications in the state and recommend changes in enforcement which will increase the effectiveness of state emissions regulation and assist in attainment of federal air quality standards.
2. Review and make recommendations relating to the Texas Department of Transportation's organizational structure and working relationship with local governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Regional Tolling Authorities and Regional Mobility Authorities.
3. Recommend improvements to homeland security, including the state's infrastructure and housing recovery operations. Make recommendations for incorporating best practices and addressing any gaps in existing procedures, and disaster preparation and response, including volunteer involvement, evacuation and sheltering and trauma care, and communications interoperability.
4. Examine the public policy implications of Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs) and recommend whether they should be reauthorized to construct specific roadways.
5. Explore the policy implications of transportation reinvestment zones funded by state sales and use taxes as an alternative to public financing of transportation projects.
6. Examine transportation funding concepts contained in legislation considered during the 81st Legislature, Regular and Special Sessions. Analyze options and make recommendations relating to historical funding strategies including prioritization of existing revenues, as well as alternative state and local transportation funding concepts. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
  • Ensure that the pass-through program reimbursements to contractors and local public entities are based on actual project costs and not cost estimates.
  • Prioritize necessary road construction projects and target financing to those segments that affect the largest number of Texans through congestion mitigation.
  • Ensure that Texas receives the best value for its investment. (Subcharges added pursuant to Dewhurst letter dated 4/8/2010.)
7. Study and make recommendations to expedite the environmental review process for transportation projects.
8. Evaluate the Texas Department of Transportation's policy for permitting overweight vehicles and recommend ways to ensure overweight vehicles do not cause significant damage to the State's roadways and bridges. Examine the limited operation hours and staffing of highway weight stations across the state and consider whether expanded operations or other alternatives would improve compliance with weight restrictions.
9. Review the 100 most congested roadway segments and determine if alternative congestion relief modes have been identified to relieve segments in areas where the addition of lanes is not possible. For example, review whether TxDOT and MPOs consider instituting park & rides and encouraging employee flex times to relieve congested roadway segments.
10. Evaluate outsourcing at the Texas Department of Transportation, including, but not limited to, engineering services and aerial mapping.
11. Review the possible increase in number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers resulting from license suspensions or indigence resulting drivers' inability to pay Driver Responsibility surcharges in light of new Department of Public Safety rules.
12. Study and make recommendations for legislation to inform Texans about best practices for hurricane preparation, response, and recovery, including information about basic state operations and pre-designated locations for PODs (Points of Distribution) across the state. Establish procedures and penalties for noncompliance by local jurisdictions that hinder response and recovery efforts.
13. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security, 81st Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation.
  • Monitor the implementation of gang-related legislation passed during the 81 st Legislature and its impact on drug cartel-related transnational gangs and crime in Texas.
Committee: House Environmental Regulation
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Air pollution control technology | Air quality | Clean Air Act | Environmental permits | Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. | Industrial air pollution | Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance Program | Texas Emissions Reduction Plan | Vehicle emissions tests | Vehicle pollution | Vehicle safety inspections |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 En89
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [54 pages  File size: 6,595 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Work to create and maintain a market-based approach to the application and implementation of Green Chemistry initiatives for the State of Texas.
2. Evaluate capabilities at public and private universities relating to the potential formation of dedicated Green Chemistry programs.
3. Collaborate with businesses to identify current Green Chemistry efforts that are already taking place, as well as what the incentives and disincentives are for businesses to make this shift. Examine and identify the environmental and economic benefits of promoting Green Chemistry initiatives.
4. Examine funding options for a statewide Green Chemistry initiative.
5. Work with various state agencies such as the General Land Office, the Railroad Commission of Texas, and the Department of Agriculture in order to facilitate the promotion of Green Chemistry practices.
6. Examine the obstacles that must be overcome for Green Chemistry to be effective; identify solutions to such obstacles.
7. Study the Clean Air Act State Implementation Plan (SIP) to determine if:
  • Data is being collected adequately
  • Recent changes to the SIP are brining Texas closer to the federal Environmental Protection Agency requirements; and
  • There are any midcourse corrections necessary to achieve EPA requirements.
As background, examine and document the trend in levels of air quality in Texas since 1980.
8. Examine the progress of the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program and the Texas Environmental Research Consortium.
9. Study the air permitting process to examine, define, or interpret the following:
  • The role of public input in the standard air permitting process;
  • The requirements and interpretation of what constitutes Best Available Control Technology;
  • The requirements for monitoring ambient air in the beginning stages of the permitting process;
  • The requirements for modeling future air pollution in the event that the proposed plant is constructed;
  • The issue of the cumulative impact of different air pollution sources;
  • The use of permits-by-rule and flexible permits in some cases; and
  • The requirements for permit renewals and the process for granting or denying permit renewals.
10. Examine the penalties and sanctions imposed on vehicle inspection and emissions testing facilities.
11. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: Senate Natural Resources
Title: Interim Report - Air Quality
Library Catalog Title: The Senate Committee on Natural Resources interim report to the 80th Legislature : state air programs
Subjects: Air pollution | Air pollution control technology | Air quality | Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance Program | Texas Emissions Reduction Plan | Vehicle pollution |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 N219ap
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [25 pages  File size: 1,146 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Monitor ongoing efforts to improve air quality in Texas and review development and implementation of the State Implementation Plan. Examine the effectiveness of the Low Income Vehicle Repair and Assistance Program and the Texas Emissions Reduction Program.
Committee: House Offset Emissions Standards, Select
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the speaker and members of the 66th Legislature / Select Committee on Offset Emission Standards.
Subjects: Air pollution control technology | Air quality | Clean Air Act | Industrial air pollution | Vehicle pollution |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 of2
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [79 pages  File size: 3,186 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Conduct in-depth studies, take and receive testimony, and pursue all possible research avenues in an effort to evaluate the economic and political effects of the Environmental Protection Agency's Emissions Offset Policy and the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments on the State of Texas.

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