HBA-JLV S.C.R. 35 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.C.R. 35 By: Brown, J. E. "Buster" Environmental Regulation 4/30/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Air pollution has a potentially serious impact on the health of all Americans, including the nearly 21 million residents of the State of Texas, and is a matter of concern to both federal and state governments. Emissions may be regulated by either the state's environmental regulation agency or the federal government, depending on their origin. Currently, the State of Texas has nine metropolitan areas that either have been designated as nonattainment areas by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or are close to exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for one or more regulated pollutants. These nonattainment or near-nonattainment areas have been given strict guidelines for their emission reduction efforts based on the severity of pollution in the area. Because of the lengthy time line for the reduction of emissions from federally controlled sources, the federally mandated attainment date for some NAAQS nonattainment regions in Texas, such as the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area, will arrive long before the effects of federal air quality improvements efforts can be realized. Texas is forced to require state-controlled emission sources to make significant reductions in pollution in a relatively short period of time while federally controlled sources continue to contaminate the state's environment. This incongruence in the federal and state time lines for emissions reduction place an undue burden on the state to lower air pollution significantly enough to be in attainment with the NAAQS without a corresponding decrease in emissions from any of the federally controlled emission sources. Senate Concurrent Resolution 35 provides that the Legislature of the State of Texas urges the Congress of the United States to require federally controlled emission sources to reduce their emissions by the same percentages and on the same schedule as state-controlled sources. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this resolution does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Concurrent Resolution 35 provides that the Legislature of the State of Texas urges the Congress of the United States to require federally controlled emission sources to reduce their emissions by the same percentages and on the same schedule as state-controlled sources.