HBA-AMW C.S.H.B. 2653 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2653
By: Geren
Environmental Regulation
4/16/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC)
requires entities under its jurisdiction, in certain cases, to issue public
notices.  In addition to requiring public notices from private entities,
TNRCC also occasionally publishes public notices.  Although the intent of a
public notice is to properly inform the public of impending actions with
environmental impacts, many notices are written in highly specialized,
technical, or legal language that may be difficult to understand or
inappropriate for the readership of the notice.  C.S.H.B. 2653 requires
TNRCC to provide for each public notice to include at the beginning of the
notice a succinct and informative summary statement of the subject of the
notice.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 5.127, Water Code) and SECTION 2 of this
bill. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2653 amends the Water Code to require the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission (TNRCC) by rule to provide for each public notice
issued or published by TNRCC or by a person under the jurisdiction of TNRCC
as required by law or TNRCC rule to include at the beginning of the notice
a succinct statement of the subject of the notice.  The bill requires TNRCC
to adopt these rules to take effect not later than March 1, 2002, and sets
forth that the rules must provide that a summary statement must be designed
to inform the reader of the subject matter of the notice without having to
read the entire text of the notice.  The bill prohibits the summary
statement from being grounds for challenging the validity of the proposed
action for which the notice was published. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2653 differs from the original bill by requiring the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) by rule to provide for each public
notice, rather than standards for the form and content of notices, and adds
the provision that the statement include at the beginning of the notice a
succinct statement of the subject of the notice.  The substitute modifies
the original bill by providing that the rules must provide that a summary
statement must be designed to inform the reader of the subject matter of
the notice without having to read the entire text of the notice, rather
than the rules must require that the form and content of notices be clear
and understandable to members of the general public.  The substitute adds
provisions regarding the design of the summary statement and prohibiting a
summary statement from being grounds for challenging the validity of the
proposed action.