The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Sunset bills (HB 1505/SB 1397) were heard in House Environmental Regulation on March 23rd and Senate Natural Resources & Economic Development on March 29th. The committees heard identical committee substitutes (CS) and left the bills pending for possible further discussion.
Highlights from the Sunset bills include:
- Extending the TCEQ for 12 years
- TCEQ can hold virtual public meetings and use electronic postings
- TCEQ will consider all severities of violations when classifying entities as a repeat violator
- Permit for concrete batch plant operations supporting a public works project.
- TCEQ’s maximum administrative penalty increases from $25,000 to $40,000 per day for certain violations
- New in the CS – The maximum daily penalty will only apply to serious violations
- New in the CS – TCEQ is exempt from the requirement to post supporting material online if the material is too large
- New in the CS – 36-hour public comment period extension for air permit applications will only apply to applications that go to consolidated public notice
As of now, the Sunset bill CS has not been adopted and further changes are possible as the bill moves through the process.