HBA-JLV, BSM H.B. 38 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 38 By: McClendon Environmental Regulation 3/15/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Over time, industrial and solid waste facilities have become concentrated in certain geographical areas. There are concerns that this has put a disproportionately high amount of the adverse health and environmental effects of those facilities on the people who live in those areas. The combination of sources of pollution concentrated in one area can have a synergistic or cumulative effect that goes far beyond the effect of one source standing by itself. House Bill 38 requires the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to consider evidence relating to these cumulative risks in an administrative proceeding for the consideration of the siting, expansion, or operation of a new facility in the area in which other facilities are located. 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) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 38 amends the Water Code relating to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission's (TNRCC) consideration of cumulative risks discovered in administrative proceedings that involve the siting, expansion, or operation of a facility in the local area in which other facilities are located. The bill authorizes an affected party to offer evidence to TNRCC relating to these cumulative risks, and requires TNRCC to take that evidence into consideration. The bill provides that the evidence include: _the effect of releases, emissions, or discharges from the facility and from other facilities in the area; _the potential for exposure to a particular substance by means of multiple pathways; and _the combined level of noise, odor, and other impacts from the facility and other facilities in the area. The bill requires the TNRCC to develop and implement policies to protect the public from these cumulative risks, particularly in low-income or minority communities and those that have a concentration of permitted facilities. TNRCC is also required to give priority to monitoring and enforcement in areas where these permitted facilities are concentrated. The bill also requires the TNRCC to adopt rules as necessary to accomplish this purpose. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.