TCEQ permit hearings must be near the facility

The text as introduced · 331 words

89R441 DRS-D

By: West
S.B. No. 212

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to certain public meetings and public hearings concerning

permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter M-1, Chapter 5, Water Code, is

amended by adding Section 5.5835 to read as follows:

Sec. 5.5835. LOCATION AND PAYMENT OF COSTS OF PUBLIC

MEETING OR PUBLIC HEARING. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, if

the commission, the executive director, or the applicant for the

permit, permit amendment, or permit renewal, under authority

authorizing or requiring a public meeting or public hearing to be

held in the county in which the facility or proposed facility that

is the subject of the meeting or hearing is located or proposed to

be located, holds a public meeting or public hearing concerning the

issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit for a facility or

proposed facility, the meeting or hearing must be held:

(1) in person; and

(2) at a public location:

(A) not more than one mile from the location or

proposed location of the facility or proposed facility; or

(B) if a public location at which the meeting or

hearing may be held does not exist within one mile of the location

or proposed location, at a public location as near as practicable to

and not more than five miles from the location or proposed location

of the facility or proposed facility.

(b) The applicant for the permit, permit amendment, or

permit renewal shall pay the cost of a public meeting or public

hearing concerning a permit described by this section. The

commission by rule may establish procedures for the payment of

those costs.

SECTION 2. Section 5.5835, Water Code, as added by this Act,

applies only to an application for a permit, permit amendment, or

permit renewal submitted on or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.