Bill Text: TX SB1294 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-18 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [SB1294 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SB1294-Introduced.html
87R4913 SLB-F | ||
By: Eckhardt | S.B. No. 1294 |
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relating to the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice | ||
within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended by adding | ||
Subchapter G-1 to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER G-1. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | ||
Sec. 5.2901. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
(1) "Environmental justice community" means a United | ||
States census block group, as determined in accordance with the | ||
most recent United States census, for which: | ||
(A) 30 percent or more of the | ||
noninstitutionalized population consists of persons who have an | ||
income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level; or | ||
(B) 50 percent or more of the population consists | ||
of members of racial minority or ethnic minority groups. | ||
(2) "Office" means the Office of Environmental | ||
Justice. | ||
(3) "Permit" has the meaning assigned by Section | ||
5.752. The term includes an original permit, permit renewal, or | ||
permit amendment. | ||
(4) "Permitted facility" means a facility required to | ||
obtain a permit under: | ||
(A) Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code; | ||
(B) Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code; or | ||
(C) Chapter 26 or 27 of this code. | ||
Sec. 5.2902. CREATION AND GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICE | ||
OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. The Office of Environmental Justice is | ||
created within the commission to protect the public health, general | ||
welfare, and physical property of environmental justice | ||
communities in regard to the issuance of permits. | ||
Sec. 5.2903. RECOMMENDATION ON PERMIT. (a) In this | ||
section, "affected environmental justice community" means an | ||
environmental justice community within three miles of a proposed or | ||
existing permitted facility. | ||
(b) This section applies to an application for a permit | ||
related to a proposed or existing permitted facility located within | ||
three miles of an environmental justice community. | ||
(c) The office shall provide a recommendation to the | ||
commission on whether a permit should be issued. In making the | ||
recommendation, the office shall consider: | ||
(1) whether the cumulative effects of pollution from | ||
the proposed permitted facility or change to an existing facility | ||
on the affected environmental justice community exceed the | ||
statewide average; and | ||
(2) any existing or anticipated vulnerabilities in the | ||
affected environmental justice community, including: | ||
(A) existing pollution levels in the affected | ||
environmental justice community and exposure of the residents of | ||
that community to those pollutants; | ||
(B) limited access to health care by residents of | ||
the affected environmental justice community; | ||
(C) health factors of the residents of the | ||
affected environmental justice community, including the prevalence | ||
of: | ||
(i) asthma and other respiratory diseases; | ||
and | ||
(ii) cancer; and | ||
(D) proximity of the proposed permitted facility | ||
to: | ||
(i) single or multi-family residences; | ||
(ii) schools; | ||
(iii) places of worship; | ||
(iv) day care centers; and | ||
(v) hospitals or other medical facilities. | ||
(d) The office shall provide the recommendation described | ||
by this section not later than the seventh day after the last day of | ||
the public comment period applicable to the permit. | ||
Sec. 5.2904. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATION BY | ||
COMMISSION. In addition to other factors required by law, the | ||
commission shall consider the recommendation of the office in | ||
making a determination about whether to issue a permit to which | ||
Section 5.2903 applies. | ||
Sec. 5.2905. STAFF; OUTSIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (a) The | ||
office shall be adequately staffed to carry out its functions under | ||
this subchapter. | ||
(b) The office may obtain and use outside technical support | ||
to carry out its functions under this subchapter. | ||
SECTION 2. (a) Section 5.2903, Water Code, as added by this | ||
Act, applies to an application for a permit, permit renewal, or | ||
permit amendment to which that section applies submitted to the | ||
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or after the effective | ||
date of this Act. An application for a permit, permit renewal, or | ||
permit amendment submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental | ||
Quality before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law | ||
in effect at the time the application was submitted and the former | ||
law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
(b) The Office of Environmental Justice within the Texas | ||
Commission on Environmental Quality, as created by this Act, is not | ||
required to issue a recommendation under Section 5.2903, Water | ||
Code, as added by this Act, before January 1, 2022. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |