|  |  | 
      
        |  | 
      
        |  | By: Simmons, Parker (Senate Sponsor - Nelson) | H.B. No. 281 | 
      
        |  | (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2015; | 
      
        |  | May 12, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural | 
      
        |  | Resources and Economic Development; May 21, 2015, reported | 
      
        |  | adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following | 
      
        |  | vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 21, 2015, sent to printer.) | 
| Click here to see the committee vote | 
      
      
        |  | 
      
        |  | COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 281 | By:  Nichols | 
    
    
      
        |  | 
      
        |  | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED | 
      
        |  | AN ACT | 
      
        |  | 
      
        |  | relating to a limitation on the expansion of certain landfills. | 
      
        |  | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | 
      
        |  | SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety | 
      
        |  | Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1231 to read as follows: | 
      
        |  | Sec. 361.1231.  LIMITATION ON EXPANSION OF CERTAIN | 
      
        |  | LANDFILLS. (a) This section applies only to a municipally owned | 
      
        |  | Type I municipal solid waste landfill permitted by the state before | 
      
        |  | 1980 that: | 
      
        |  | (1)  is located wholly inside the boundaries of a | 
      
        |  | municipality; and | 
      
        |  | (2)  is owned by a municipality other than the | 
      
        |  | municipality in which it is located. | 
      
        |  | (b)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, | 
      
        |  | the commission may not approve an application for the issuance, | 
      
        |  | amendment, or renewal of a permit that seeks to expand the area or | 
      
        |  | capacity of a landfill unless  the governing body of the | 
      
        |  | municipality in which the landfill is located first approves by | 
      
        |  | resolution or order the issuance, amendment, or renewal of the | 
      
        |  | permit. | 
      
        |  | (c)  The commission shall provide the members of the | 
      
        |  | legislature who represent the district containing the landfill | 
      
        |  | described in the permit with an opportunity to comment on the | 
      
        |  | application and shall consider those comments in evaluating an | 
      
        |  | application under this subchapter. | 
      
        |  | SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to | 
      
        |  | an application for the issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit | 
      
        |  | pending before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or | 
      
        |  | after the effective date of this Act.  A permit issued, amended, or | 
      
        |  | renewed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law | 
      
        |  | in effect when the permit was issued, amended, or renewed, and the | 
      
        |  | former law is continued in effect for that purpose. | 
      
        |  | SECTION 3.  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, 2015. | 
      
        |  |  | 
      
        |  | * * * * * |