H.B. No. 281

	AN ACT
	relating to a limitation on the expansion of certain landfills.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 361, Health and Safety
	Code, is amended by adding Section 361.1231 to read as follows:
	Sec. 361.1231.  LIMITATION ON EXPANSION OF CERTAIN
	LANDFILLS. (a) This section applies only to a municipally owned
	Type I municipal solid waste landfill permitted by the state before
	1980 that:
	(1)  is located wholly inside the boundaries of a
	municipality; and
	(2)  is owned by a municipality other than the
	municipality in which it is located.
	(b)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter,
	the commission may not approve an application for the issuance,
	amendment, or renewal of a permit that seeks to expand the area or
	capacity of a landfill unless the governing body of the
	municipality in which the landfill is located first approves by
	resolution or order the issuance, amendment, or renewal of the
	permit.
	(c)  The commission shall provide the members of the
	legislature who represent the district containing the landfill
	described in the permit with an opportunity to comment on the
	application and shall consider those comments in evaluating an
	application under this subchapter.
	SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
	an application for the issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit
	pending before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on or
	after the effective date of this Act. A permit issued, amended, or
	renewed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
	in effect when the permit was issued, amended, or renewed, and the
	former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 281 was passed by the House on May 11,
	2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 109, Nays 25, 1 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 281 on May 28, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 135, Nays 8, 2
	present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 281 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 26, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
	1.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor