H.B. No. 2541

	AN ACT
	relating to emergency response costs and certain other requirements
	concerning solid waste facilities, including recycling facilities.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
	Code, is amended by adding Section 361.0145 to read as follows:
	Sec. 361.0145.  RESPONSE TO OR REMEDIATION OF FIRE OR
	EMERGENCY.  (a)  The commission may make an immediate response to
	or remediation of a fire or other emergency that involves solid
	waste, including processed or unprocessed material suitable for
	recycling or composting, as the commission determines necessary to
	protect the public health or safety.
	(b)  Notwithstanding Section 361.014(b), revenue otherwise
	dedicated under that section may be used for an action authorized by
	Subsection (a).
	(c)  The commission may recover from a person who is
	responsible for the solid waste as provided by Section 361.271 the
	reasonable expenses incurred by the commission during an immediate
	response and remediation action under Subsection (a).  The state
	may bring an action to recover those reasonable expenses.
	(d)  If the commission used for an action under Subsection
	(a) money otherwise dedicated under Section 361.014(b), money
	recovered under Subsection (c) shall be deposited in the state
	treasury to the credit of the commission until the amount deposited
	equals the amount of the dedicated money used.  Money credited under
	this subsection may be used only as provided by Section 361.014(b).
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
	Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1191 to read as follows:
	Sec. 361.1191.  REGULATION OF CERTAIN RECYCLING FACILITIES
	IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a municipal
	solid waste recycling facility that does not hold a permit or
	registration issued by the commission that stores combustible
	materials to produce mulch or compost and is located in a county
	that:
	(1)  has a population of more than 1.3 million; and
	(2)  includes areas designated as a recharge or
	transition zone of an aquifer as defined under the commission's
	Edwards Aquifer Protection Program that is the sole or principal
	source of drinking water for an area designated under Section
	1424(e), Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. Section
	300h-3(e)) and by the Environmental Protection Agency as the
	Edwards Underground Reservoir under 40 Federal Register 58344.
	(b)  The commission by rule shall:
	(1)  prescribe time limits for processing and removing
	materials from a facility;
	(2)  limit the amount of combustible material that may
	be stored at a recycling facility;
	(3)  limit the size of a pile of combustible recyclable
	or recycled materials, including composting materials or mulch, at
	a recycling facility;
	(4)  impose different standards for a recycling
	facility appropriate to the size and number of piles of combustible
	materials to be stored or processed at the facility;
	(5)  require a recycling facility to establish fire
	lanes between piles of combustible materials;
	(6)  require buffer zones between a recycling facility
	and a residence, school, or church; and
	(7)  for a recycling facility that is located on a
	recharge or transition zone referenced in Subsection
	361.1191(a)(2):
	(A)  impose more stringent standards; and
	(B)  require groundwater protection features,
	such as liners and monitor wells.
	(c)  A rule adopted by the commission under this section does
	not become effective until the first anniversary of the date on
	which the rule was adopted.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2541 was passed by the House on May 4,
	2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 139, Nays 0, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 2541 on May 25, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 0,
	2 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 2541 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 23, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor