H.B. No. 1251

	AN ACT
	relating to a public agency's, county's, or municipality's
	authority to enforce a solid waste collection and transportation
	services franchise or contract.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 364.034, Health and Safety Code, is
	amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g),
	and (h) to read as follows:
	(e)  Except as provided by Subsections (f), (g), and (h),
	this [This] section does not apply to a person who provides the
	public or private entity, public agency, or county with written
	documentation that the person is receiving solid waste disposal
	services from another entity. Nothing in this section shall limit
	the authority of a public agency, including a county or a
	municipality, to enforce its grant of a franchise or contract for
	solid waste collection and transportation services within its
	territory.  Except as provided by Subsection (f), the governing
	body of a municipality may provide that a franchise it grants or a
	contract it enters into for solid waste collection and
	transportation services under this subchapter or under other law
	supersedes inside of the municipality's boundaries any other
	franchise granted or contract entered into under this subchapter.
	(f)  Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, a
	political subdivision, including a county or a municipality, may
	not restrict the right of an entity to contract with a licensed
	waste hauler for the collection and removal of domestic septage or
	of grease trap waste, grit trap waste, lint trap waste, or sand trap
	waste.
	(g)  Except as provided by this subsection, a person is
	exempt from the application of a requirement adopted by a public
	agency or county under Subsection (a) if the person, on the date the
	requirement is adopted, is receiving under a contract in effect on
	that date solid waste disposal services at a level that is the same
	as or higher than the level of services that otherwise would be
	required.  The exception provided by this subsection does not apply
	to a requirement adopted under this section by a municipality.  To
	qualify for the exemption provided by this subsection, the person
	must provide to the public agency or county written documentation
	acceptable to the public agency or county not later than the 30th
	day before the date the otherwise required services are scheduled
	to begin.  The person who provides solid waste disposal services to
	a person who qualifies for the exemption shall notify the public
	agency or county that the services under the contract have stopped
	not later than the 15th day after the date those services are
	stopped for any reason.
	(h)  This section does not apply to a private entity that
	contracts to provide temporary solid waste disposal services to a
	construction project.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the House on April
	12, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 130, Nays 10, 1 present, not
	voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
	H.B. No. 1251 on May 18, 2007, and requested the appointment of a
	conference committee to consider the differences between the two
	houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
	on H.B. No. 1251 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 135,
	Nays 5, 2 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1251 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 15, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
	0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
	committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
	that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
	1251 on May 26, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor