HBA-MPM C.S.H.B. 1910 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1910 By: Chisum Environmental Regulation 4/16/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority (authority) was created by the Texas Legislature in 1981 in response to federal law making each state responsible for the disposal of its own low-level radioactive waste. The authority was commissioned by Texas law to finance, construct, operate, and decommission a disposal site for low-level radioactive waste produced in Texas. Following state legislative direction, the authority filed an application to permit a site in Sierra Blanca, Hudspeth County. This application was denied by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) on October 22, 1998, citing inadequate characterization of the fault referred to in the application and failure to adequately address the socioeconomic impacts of the effects of the proposed facility and associated transport of radioactive material. C.S.H.B. 1910 establishes the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority and defines its role and authority, as well as that of its board of directors, TNRCC, and the Texas Department of Health (department) with respect to methods of low-level radioactive waste management and disposal. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the board of directors of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority (board) in SECTION 9 (Section 402.028, Health and Safety Code); and to the Texas Department of Health in SECTION 40 (Section 402.1511, Health and Safety Code); and that rulemaking authority previously delegated to the board is modified in SECTION 66 (Section 402.272, Health and Safety Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 402.001, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.001. SHORT TITLE. Provides that this chapter may be cited as the Texas LowLevel Radioactive Waste Management Authority Act, rather than the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority Act. SECTION 2. Amends Section 402.002, Health and Safety Code, to provide that the purpose of this chapter is to establish the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority (authority), rather than the Texas Low-Level Waste Disposal Authority, with responsibility for assuring necessary disposal or assured isolation capability for specific categories of low-level radioactive waste (waste). Makes conforming changes. SECTION 3. Amends Section 402.003, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.003. DEFINITIONS. Defines "assured isolation," "assured isolation site," "compact," and "party state" for purposes of this chapter. Redefines "authority," "management," "operation," "rangeland and wildlife management plan," and "host county" for purposes of this chapter. Redesignates existing Subdivisions (1) and (2) to Subdivisions (3) and (4); Subdivisions (3)-(8) to Subdivisions (6)-(11); and Subdivisions (9)-(14) to Subdivisions (13)-(18), respectively. SECTION 4. Amends Section 402.011, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.011. New title: TEXAS LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY. Makes a conforming change. SECTION 5. Amends Section 402.012, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 6. Amends Section 402.013(c), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 7. Amends Section 402.020, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 8. Amends Section 402.021(b), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 9. Amends Section 402.028, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.028. CONTRACTS OVER $15,000. (a) Requires the board of directors of the authority (board) to ask for competitive bids as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 271 (Competitive Bidding on Certain Public Works Contracts, Purchasing and Contracting Authority of Municipalities, Counties, and Certain Other Local Governments), Local Government Code, if the estimated amount of a proposed contract for the purchase of materials, machinery, equipment, or supplies is more than $15,000, except as provided by this section. (b) Authorizes the board to use the design-build method for the construction of a disposal or assured isolation site facility, and requires the board, in using that method and entering into a contract for services of a design-build firm, to follow the procedures authorized by Section 51.780 (Design-Build Contracts for Facilities), Education Code, for institutions of higher learning. (c) Authorizes the board to use a design-build-operate method for the construction and operation of a disposal or assured isolation site facility, and requires it, if choosing this option, to follow the procedures authorized by Subsection (b) and, in addition, by rule, to adopt and require for the facility operator professional and performance qualifications that are substantially similar, for services being contracted for, to the professional and performance requirements for architects and engineers under Section 51.780, Education Code. (d) Makes this section inapplicable to purchases of property from public agencies or to contracts for personal services, rather than personal or professional services. SECTION 10. Amends Sections 402.029(a) and (c), Health and Safety Code, as follows: (a) Authorizes the authority, through the board, to sue and be sued in the name of the authority in any court in this state, except as to matters pertaining to site selection and licensing of a disposal or assured isolation site, rather than a facility within the geographical area of Hudspeth County described in Section 402.0921 (Site Area), Health and Safety Code, which suits may only be brought in the courts of Travis County. (c) Makes conforming changes. SECTION 11. Amends Sections 402.031(a), (b), (d), and (e), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 12. Amends Section 402.032, Health and Safety Code, to exempt the purchase by the authority of supplies, materials, services, or equipment necessary to prepare, construct, or operate a disposal or assured isolation site from the purchasing requirements of Subtitle D (State Purchasing and General Services), Title 10 (General Government), Government Code, except as provided under Section 402.212 (Contract for Operation of Disposal Site), Health and Safety Code. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 13. Amends Section 402.051, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.051. New title: JURISDICTION OVER DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE. (a) Created from existing text. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. (b) Requires that a license for a disposal or assured isolation site be issued in the name of the authority and prohibits its transference to a private entity. SECTION 14. Amends Section 402.052, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.052. New title: DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION OF DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE. (a) Requires the authority to develop and operate one disposal or assured isolation site for the disposal, assured isolation, or both disposal and assured isolation of waste in this state. Makes conforming changes. (b) Prohibits the authority from developing or operating an assured isolation site unless assured isolation at the site includes certain access to waste, monitoring methods, and inspection and preventive maintenance. SECTION 15. Amends Section 402.053, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 16. Amends Section 402.058, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 17. Amends Section 402.059(a), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 18. Amends Section 402.081, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.081. New title: SITE SELECTION STUDIES. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 19. Amends Subchapter D, Chapter 402, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 402.0815, as follows: Sec. 402.0815. LOCATION OF SITE IN COUNTY BORDERING INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY PROHIBITED. Prohibits a low-level radioactive waste disposal or assured isolation site from being located in a county adjacent to an international boundary. SECTION 20. Amends Section 402.082, Health and Safety Code, to specify that studies required under Section 402.081, Health and Safety Code, regarding disposal must consider certain factors. Deletes the alternative management technique of aboveground isolation facilities from the list of these factors. Provides that studies required under Section 402.081, Health and Safety Code, regarding assured isolation must consider certain factors. Adds to this list of factors geology and hydration. SECTION 21. Amends Section 402.083, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.083. CHOOSING SITES FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS. (a) Requires the board to choose a potential disposal or assured isolation site, rather than to choose at least two potential disposal sites, for further analysis under Section 402.084 (Evaluation of Potential Site), Health and Safety Code. (b) Requires an authority, in choosing a site under this section for further analysis, to give preference to counties which have passed a nonbinding referendum in favor of the facility and in which the commissioners court has passed a resolution in favor of the facility in that county. (c) Provides that a person is eligible to vote in a nonbinding referendum under this section if the person was eligible to vote in the most recent gubernatorial election in the county in which the nonbinding referendum is to be held. (d) Authorizes a county to hold, and requires it to pay for, a nonbinding referendum described by Subsection (b). Requires the ballot to include certain language with respect to the waste management site. Requires the referendum to be conducted as provided by the Election Code, except that Section 41.001(a) (Uniform Election Dates), Election Code, is inapplicable to this section. Defines "nonbinding referendum" as an election. SECTION 22. Amends Section 402.084, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.084. New title: EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL SITE. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 23. Amends Section 402.085, Health and Safety Code, to require the board to propose the site, rather than a site, if the site appears to be suitable, rather than the most suitable, for disposal or assured isolation, and to hold a public hearing to consider whether the site should be selected as the state's disposal or assured isolation site. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 24. Amends Section 402.086(a), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 25. Amends Section 402.087(a) and (c), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 26. Amends Section 402.088(b), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 27. Amends Section 402.089, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 28. Amends Section 402.090, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 29. Amends Section 402.091, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 30. Amends Section 402.092, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 31. Amends Section 402.0922, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 32. Amends Section 402.094, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 33. Amends Section 402.122, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 34. Amends Section 402.123, Health and Safety Code, to require the School Land Board or the board of regents (regents) of the University of Texas System to authorize the authority to conduct any studies of the proposed site required by rule of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) or Texas Department of Health (department). Deletes the requirement that the School Land Board or regents, as appropriate, authorize the authority to enter on the land to conduct a detailed technical characterization of a proposed disposal site if the board determines that a suitable site can be located on land dedicated to the permanent school fund or permanent university fund and issues an order selecting that site as a proposed disposal site. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 35. Amends Section 402.124(b), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 36. Amends Section 402.125(b), Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 37. Amends Section 402.126, Health and Safety Code, to authorize, rather than require, the authority to lease from the School Land Board on its terms and conditions the land determined by the School Land Board as necessary to serve as a rangeland and wildlife management area, rather than a buffer, for the disposal or assured isolation site. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 38. Amends Section 402.128, Health and Safety Code, to include the department among those entities which are prohibited from lessening any standards for the siting, constructing, or operation of a disposal or assured isolation site because it is located on state-owned land dedicated to the permanent school fund or the permanent university fund. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 39. Amends Section 402.151, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 40. Amends Section 402.1511, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.1511. New title: COMMISSION OR DEPARTMENT LICENSE. (a) Provides that the department has sole authority to issue a license to operate an assured isolation site under this chapter. Prohibits the authority or any other entity authorized by contract, rather than authorized, to operate a disposal or assured isolation site under this chapter unless the authority, rather than the authority or entity, has first obtained an operating license as required under this section, rather than an operating license from the commission. Authorizes the department, in addition to the commission, to adopt any rules reasonably necessary to exercise its authority under this section. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 41. Amends Section 402.152, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.152. APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSES AND AUTHORIZATIONS. (a) Makes a conforming change. (b) Redesignated from existing Subsection (c), which makes a conforming change. Deletes existing Subsection (b) to make a conforming change. (c) Redesignated from existing subsection (d). Requires the department, in addition to the commission, as appropriate, to complete its review of the completeness and administrative sufficiency of a license application within 60, rather than 30, days of receipt. Makes conforming changes. (d) Redesignated from existing Subsection (e). Makes conforming changes. SECTION 42. Amends Section 402.154, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 43. Amends Section 402.155, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 44. Amends Section 402.181, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.181. New title: DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE CONSTRUCTION. Requires the authority to contract for construction as provided by this chapter, in addition to construct all works and facilities on the disposal or assured isolation site, and to make improvements necessary to prepare the site for management of waste, rather than for disposal and to permanently dispose of waste. Prohibits the authority from beginning construction of any part of or any works associated with a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility or assured isolation facility before the state has acquired ownership of the land where the facility is to be located and provides that this stipulation does not prohibit the authority from performing site characterizations on land not yet acquired by the state. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 45. Amends Section 402.182, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 46. Amends Sections 402.183(a) and (b), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 47. Amends Sections 402.211, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.211. New title: MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 48. Amends Section 402.212, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.212. New title: CONTRACT FOR OPERATION OF DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE. Authorizes the board, after bidding conducted in accordance with Section 402.028, Health and Safety Code, to contract with a political subdivision or state agency or a private entity to perform the overall operation of a disposal or assured isolation site. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 49. Amends Section 402.213, Health and Safety Code, to authorize the board, in contracting with a contract operator, to select the operator before the authority, rather than before the board, obtains the license for the disposal or assured isolation site so that the board may allow the operator to advise and consult with the board, general manager, and staff of the authority on the design of the site plans. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 50. Amends Section 402.214, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 51. Amends Section 402.215, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 52. Amends Section 402.216, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.216. New title: RULES RELATING TO DISPOSAL OR ASSURED ISOLATION SITE. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 53. Amends Section 402.217, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.217. New title: SITE ACTIVITIES. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 54. Amends Section 402.218, Health and Safety Code, to provide that on acceptance by the disposal or assured isolation site, title and liability for the waste transfers to the authority. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 55. Amends Section 402.219, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.219. New title: LIMITATIONS ON WASTE ACCEPTANCE. Authorizes a licensed disposal or assured isolation site, rather than a site, to accept only waste generated in this state, except as provided by an interstate compact. Prohibits the board and the contract operator, notwithstanding any other law, from accepting from a state other than Texas, Maine, or Vermont any low-level radioactive waste for disposal or assured isolation at a compact facility unless the method of disposal or isolation of said waste meets certain criteria. Provides that the total volume of waste authorized to be accepted from states other than Texas, Maine, and Vermont is in addition to that authorized and established under Section 3.04(11), Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact (Section 403.006, Health and Safety Code). Makes conforming changes. SECTION 56. Amends Sections 402.220(a), (c), and (d), Health and Safety Code, to authorize the authority to contract for the construction of facilities and procure equipment required to provide fire, police, and emergency services needed to support the disposal or assured isolation site. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 57. Amends Section 402.221(b), Health and Safety Code, to require an inspector under contract to the department, in addition to one employed by the department, to inspect all packaged waste before it is transported to a disposal or assured isolation site in this state. SECTION 58. Amends Section 402.222, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 59. Amends Section 402.223, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 60. Amends Section 402.224(a), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 61. Amends Section 402.225, Health and Safety Code, to delete the prohibition that waste may not be disposed of in a landfill below the natural level of a disposal site unless federal or state regulatory programs for waste preclude or recommend against aboveground disposal, or if the authority has, by rule, determined that belowground disposal provides greater protection than aboveground disposal for public health and the environment for the period for which the waste will continue to pose a hazard to public health and the environment. Redesignates Subdivisions (2) and (3) to Subdivisions (1) and (2), respectively. SECTION 62. Amends Section 402.226(a), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive change. SECTION 63. Amends Section 402.228, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.228. New title: DECOMMISSIONING AND CLOSING SITE. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 64. Amends Section 402.252(a), Health and Safety Code, to require the board to transfer on a quarterly basis that portion of waste acceptance fees, rather than disposal fees, identifiable as adopted for the purposes of Sections 402.273(a)(3) and (b) (Waste Disposal Fee Criteria) to the commissioners court of the host county. SECTION 65. Amends Section 402.271, Health and Safety Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 66. Amends Section 402.272, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.272. New title: WASTE ACCEPTANCE FEES. Requires the board by rule to adopt and periodically revise waste acceptance, rather than disposal, fees according to a specified schedule. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 67. Amends Sections 402.2721, Health and Safety Code, to amend Subsections (b)-(g) and add Subsection (i), as follows: (b) Makes conforming changes. (c) Makes a conforming change. (d) Deletes the requirement that fees established under this section include minimum and maximum annual fees in an amount of at least $5 million for the 1992-1993 biennium to pay for the estimated costs of administering, implementing, and planning the activities authorized by this chapter and that the fees include at least $5 million to reimburse the general revenue fund for appropriations expended and incurred by the authority in selecting, characterizing, and licensing a disposal site. Redesignates existing Subdivisions (2)-(6) to Subdivisions (1)(5), respectively. (e) Prohibits the fees assessed under this section from being assessed prior to a certain time, in a certain amount, or from being collected at a certain time. (f) Makes a nonsubstantive change. Deletes the requirement that the board assess, for the 1994-1995 biennium only, a surcharge of 10 percent of the fee established for the 1992-1993 biennium. (g) Requires that surcharges assessed under Subsection (f), rather than Subsections (e) and (f), be used to fund local public projects under Subchapter I. (i) Requires the balance of the low-level waste fund attributable to planning and implementation fees, on termination of the imposition of the fees under Subsection (d), to be transferred to a separate account in the fund and credited pro rata to generators who have paid planning and implementation fees. Requires a generator who, on the date the imposition of fees is terminated, has paid all applicable fees owed under this section to receive a credit equal to the amount of the generator's pro rata share in the account against waste acceptance fees the generator is required to pay under Section 402.272, Health and Safety Code, until the balance of the generator's pro rata share in the account is exhausted. Makes a generator who, on the date imposition of fees is terminated, owes applicable fees ineligible for the credit. SECTION 68. Amends Section 402.273, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.273. New title: WASTE ACCEPTANCE FEE CRITERIA. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 69. Amends Section 402.274, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 70. Amends Sections 402.275, Health and Safety Code, by amending Subsections (c), (d), and (f), and adding Subsections (h) and (i), as follows: (c) Includes payments made by a party state under Section 5.01, Health and Safety Code, of the compact among those monies that the authority is required to deposit to the credit of the low-level waste fund. Makes a conforming change. (d) Makes conforming changes. (f) Authorizes payments made by a party state under Section 5.01, Health and Safety Code, to be used only as provided by Subsection (h) or Section 402.277, Health and Safety Code. (h) Requires the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller), upon receipt of a payment made by a party state, to transfer the payment to the low-level radioactive waste perpetual care fund. (i) Requires the comptroller, notwithstanding the transfer required by Subsection (h), to retain in the low-level waste fund the first $25 million received from payments by party states under Section 5.01 of the compact. Authorizes this money to be appropriated for the construction by the authority of a disposal or assured isolation site. SECTION 71. Amends Subchapter J, Chapter 402, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 402.277, as follows: Sec. 402.277. LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE PERPETUAL CARE FUND. Provides that the low-level radioactive waste perpetual care fund is a special account in the treasury outside the general revenue fund which consists of certain payments and deposits. Requires interest earned on money in this fund to be credited to the fund. Authorizes money in this fund, subject to Subsection (e), to be appropriated for the long-term care and maintenance of a state-owned facility for the disposal or assured isolation of low-level radioactive waste, including use by the authority, the department, or the commission for certain purposes related to the facility. Authorizes interest on the money in this fund to be used for normal operating expenses of the authority as appropriated by the legislature, and prohibits the principal from being used for normal operating expenses of the authority, commission, or department. SECTION 72. Amends Sections 402.291(a) and (d), Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 73. Amends Section 403.001(a), Health and Safety Code, to provide that one of the voting members of the compact commission be a legal resident of the host county, rather than of Hudspeth County. SECTION 74. Repealer: Sections 402.059(d) (regarding the power to enter property as it applies to property located in whole or in part in the geographical are of Hudspeth County); 402.0921 (Site Area); 402.121 (Preference to School or University Land); 402.127 (Finding by Board of Regents Before Sale or Lease); and 402.129 (Report to Governor and Legislature on Siting), Health and Safety Code. SECTION 75. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 76. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1910 differs from the original bill as follows: SECTION 3. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.003, Health and Safety Code, by modifying the proposed definition of "assured isolation," and deleting the term "temporary storage." Makes conforming changes. SECTION 4. The substitute adds new SECTION 4 to amend Section 402.011, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.011. New title: TEXAS LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY. Makes a conforming change Redesignates SECTIONS 4-13 of the original to SECTIONS 5-14. SECTION 5. The substitute changes proposed Section 402.012, Health and Safety Code, by reinstating the existing expiration date of the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority, as provided by Chapter 325 (Texas Sunset Act), Government Code, on September 1, 2001, rather than September 1, 2007, as provided by the original, unless continued by that chapter. SECTION 11. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.031, Health and Safety Code, by amending Subsection (b) to make a conforming change. The substitute deletes SECTION 14 of the original, which amended Subchapter C, Chapter 402, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 402.0521, TEMPORARY STORAGE FACILITIES. This proposed section authorizes the authority to construct and operate temporary storage facilities for low-level radioactive waste and sets forth the methods by which these facilities are authorized to be constructed, operated, and licensed. This section also authorizes the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority (authority), by rule, to charge certain fees. SECTION 14. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.052, Health and Safety Code, by adding a new Subsection (b), setting out conditions for the operation of an assured isolation site. SECTION 18. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.081, Health and Safety Code, by redesignating the provisions of SECTION 18 of the original to SECTION 21. SECTION 19. The substitute adds new SECTION 19 to amend Subchapter D, Chapter 402, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 402.0815, as follows: Sec. 402.0815. LOCATION OF SITE IN COUNTY BORDERING INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY PROHIBITED. Prohibits a low-level radioactive waste disposal or assured isolation site from being located in a county adjacent to an international border. Redesignates SECTIONS 19-69 of the original to SECTIONS 20-70 of the substitute. SECTION 20. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.082, Health and Safety Code, to include in Subsection (b), geology and hydrology among a list of considerations that studies required under Section 402.081, regarding assured isolation, must consider, and deletes the proximity of the site to source of low-level radioactive waste from this list. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 21. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.083, Health and Safety Code, by adding new Subsection (b) to require the authority, in choosing a site under this section for further analysis, to give preference to a county which meets specific criteria. In new Subsection (c), the substitute provides circumstances under which a person of that county is eligible to vote in a nonbinding referendum and in new Subsection (d), authorizes the county to hold and requires it to pay for the referendum, and sets forth language required to be in the referendum. Furthermore, in new Subsection (e), the substitute defines "nonbinding referendum" for purposes of this section and makes conforming changes. SECTION 41. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.152, Health and Safety Code, by reinstating the existing Subsections (c), (d), and (e), which were deleted in the original, and amending them as follows: (b) Redesignated from existing Subsection (c), which makes a conforming change. Deletes existing Subsection (b) to make a conforming change. (c) Redesignated from existing subsection (d). Requires the department, in addition to the commission, as appropriate, to complete its review of the completeness and administrative sufficiency of a license application within 60, rather than 30, days of receipt. Makes conforming changes. (d) Redesignated from existing Subsection (e). Makes conforming changes. SECTION 44. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.181, Health and Safety Code, by adding new Subsection (c) to prohibit the authority from beginning construction of any part of or any works associated with a low-level radioactive waste disposal site or assured isolation facility before the state has acquired ownership of the land where the facility is to be located and provides that this stipulation does not prohibit the authority from performing site characterizations on land not yet acquired by the state. SECTION 53. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.217, Health and Safety Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 55. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.219, Health and Safety Code, to add new Subsection (f) and (g), as follows: (f) Prohibits the board and the contract operator, notwithstanding any other law, from accepting from a state other than Texas, Maine, or Vermont any low-level radioactive waste for disposal or assured isolation at a compact facility unless the method of disposal or isolation of said waste meets certain criteria. (g) Provides that the total volume of waste authorized to be accepted from states other than Texas, Maine, and Vermont is in addition to that authorized and established under Section 3.04(11), Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact (Section 403.006, Health and Safety Code). SECTION 67. The substitute modifies the original in Section 402.2721, Health and Safety Code, by replacing the text of Subsection (e), amending Subsections (f) and (g), and adding new Subsection (i), as follows: (e) Prohibits the fees assessed under this section from being assessed prior to a certain time, in a certain amount, or from being collected at a certain time. This subsection replaces Subsection (e) in the original, regarding certain surcharges assessed to a fee for each biennium. (f) Redesignated from existing Subsection (e), as amended in the original. (g) Redesignated from Subsection (f), as this subsection was redesignated in the original. Requires that surcharges assessed under Subsection (f), rather than Subsection (e), be used to fund local public projects under Subchapter I. (i) Requires the balance of the low-level waste fund attributable to planning and implementation fees, on termination of the imposition of the fees under Subsection (d), be transferred to a separate account in the fund and credited pro rata to generators who have paid planning and implementation fees. Requires a generator who, on the date the imposition of fees is terminated, has paid all applicable fees owed under this section to receive a credit equal to the amount of the generator's pro rata share in the account against waste acceptance fees the generator is required to pay under Section 402.272, Health and Safety Code, until the balance of the generator's pro rata share in the account is exhausted. Makes a generator who, on the date imposition of fees is terminated, owes applicable fees ineligible for the credit. SECTION 70. The substitute modifies the originals in Section 402.275, Health and Safety Code, by amending Subsections (c) and (f) and adding new Subsections (h) and (i), as follows: (c) Includes payments made by a party state under Section 5.01, Health and Safety Code, of the compact among those monies that the authority is required to deposit to the credit of the low-level waste fund. Makes a conforming change. (f) Authorizes payments made by a party state under Section 5.01, Health and Safety Code, to be used only as provided by Subsection (h) or Section 402.277, Health and Safety Code. (h) Requires the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller), upon receipt of a payment made by a party state, to transfer the payment to the low-level radioactive waste perpetual care fund. (i) Requires the comptroller, notwithstanding the transfer required by Subsection (h), to retain in the low-level waste fund the first $25 million received from payments by party states under Section 5.01 of the compact. Authorizes this money to be appropriated for the construction of a disposal or assured isolation site by the authority. SECTION 71. The substitute adds new SECTION 71 to amend Subchapter J, Chapter 402, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 402.277, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 402.277. LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE PERPETUAL CARE FUND. Provides that the low-level radioactive waste perpetual care fund is a special account in the treasury outside the general revenue fund which consists of certain payments and deposits. Requires interest earned on money in this fund to be credited to the fund. Authorizes money in this fund, subject to Subsection (e), to be appropriated for the long-term care and maintenance of a state-owned facility for the disposal or assured isolation of low-level radioactive waste, including use by the authority, the department, or the commission for certain purposes related to the facility. Authorizes interest on the money in this fund to be used for normal operating expenses of the authority as appropriated by the legislature, and prohibits the principal from being used for normal operating expenses of the authority, commission, or department. Redesignates SECTIONS 70-74 of the original to SECTIONS 72-76 of the substitute.