HBA-MPM C.S.S.B. 1306 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1306
By: Brown
Environmental Regulation
5/11/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, hazardous waste is defined to mean any solid waste
identified or listed as a hazardous waste by the administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency under the amended federal Solid Waste
Disposal Act.  Recent court cases in Texas have challenged the
constitutionality of a state law that has the effect of prospectively
adopting, by reference, a federal statutory definition. C.S.S.B. 1306
amends state law to delete the prospective definition of "hazardous waste"
as defined by federal law, to be replaced with a functional definition of
hazardous waste derived from the federal criteria for defining or listing
hazardous waste. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code) and to
the Texas Railroad Commission in SECTION 2 (Section 91.601, Natural
Resources Code) of this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 361.003(12), Health and Safety Code, to redefine
"hazardous waste" as a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which
because of various characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute
to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or
incapacitating reversible, illness; or pose a substantial present or
potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly
treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed; and is
identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) as
a hazardous waste, by rule, provided the rules implementing this
subdivision shall be consistent with, and not more stringent than necessary
to maintain state program authorization under, 42 U.S.C., Section 6901 et
seq. (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976), as amended.  Deletes
text defining "hazardous waste" as that identified or listed as a hazardous
waste by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act. 

SECTION 2.  Amends Section 91.601(1), Natural Resources Code, to redefine
"oil and gas hazardous waste" as an oil and gas waste or combination of
both wastes, which because of certain characteristics may cause or
significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in
serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or pose a
substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment
when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of or otherwise
managed; and is identified by the Texas Railroad Commission as a hazardous
waste by rule, provided the rules implementing this subdivision shall be
consistent with, and not more stringent than necessary to obtain or
maintain state program authorization under 42 U.S.C., Section 6901 et seq.,
as amended.  Deletes text defining "oil and gas hazardous waste" as that
defined by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended. 

SECTION 3.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: 90 days after adjournment.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

 C.S.S.B. 1306 modifies the original bill in SECTION 1 (Section 361.003
(12), Health and Safety Code), to change the proposed definition of
"hazardous waste."  The original defined this term to include as a solid
waste having each of three specific characteristics, as follows: 

_that it may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality
or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible,
illness;  
_pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the
environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of,
or otherwise managed; and 
_that it is identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission (TNRCC) as a hazardous waste, by rule. 

The substitute, however, defines the term to provide that a solid waste is
a "hazardous waste" if it has either of the first two characteristics in
combination with the third, as follows: 

_that it may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality
or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible,
illness; or 
_that it pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or
the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed
of, or otherwise managed; and 
_that is identified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
(TNRCC) as a hazardous waste, by rule. 

The substitute adds new SECTION 2.  Please see the Section-by-Section
Analysis in this document. 

The substitute replaces the long emergency clause in SECTION 2 of the
original with the short emergency clause in SECTION 3 of the substitute.