HBA-KMH C.S.H.B. 3570 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3570 By: Haggerty Environmental Regulation 4/22/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Section 7.067 of the Water Code authorizes the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to compromise, modify, or set aside administrative penalties imposed on businesses or other entities for violations of environmental laws or agency rules. One factor for TNRCC to use to determine the amount of an administrative penalty is the violator's willingness to contribute to a "supplemental environmental project" (SEP) approved by TNRCC. SEPs are projects designed to benefit the environment by preventing or reducing pollution, enhancing the quality of the environment, or contributing to public awareness of environmental matters. Under current law, SEPs are essentially limited to territory in Texas, even though there are often instances, particularly on the Texas-Mexico border, where SEPs located wholly or partially in Mexico would provide environmental benefits in Texas. C.S.H.B. 3570 authorizes TNRCC to approve a supplemental environmental project with activities in the territory of the United Mexican States if the project substantially benefits territory in this state in a manner described by this section. This bill also prohibits TNRCC from approving a project: _that is necessary to bring a respondent into compliance with environmental laws; _that is necessary to remediate environmental harm caused by the respondent's alleged violation; or, _for which the project activities will take place at a location that is more than 50 miles from the location of the acts of the respondent's alleged violation or the environmental harm caused by the respondent's alleged violation. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 7.067, Water Code, to authorize the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to approve a supplemental environmental project with activities in territory of the United Mexican States if the project substantially benefits territory in this state in a manner described by this section. Prohibits TNRCC from approving a project: _that is necessary to bring a respondent into compliance with environmental laws; _that is necessary to remediate environmental harm caused by the respondent's alleged violation; or, _for which the project activities will take place at a location that is more than 50 miles from the location of the acts of the respondent's alleged violation or the environmental harm caused by the respondent's alleged violation. Makes a conforming change. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 3570 modifies the original in SECTION 1 (Section 7.067, Water Code) to include a provision prohibiting the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission from approving a project for which the project activities will take place at a location that is more than 50 miles from the location of the acts of the respondent's alleged violation or the environmental harm caused by the respondent's alleged violation.