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86th Texas Legislature Updates: May 14, 2019

86th Texas Legislature Updates: May 14, 2019

The 86th Legislature House and Senate have been assigning bills to committees, holding public committee hearings, distributing reports on bills, and voting on legislation. Activities are described below.

The deadline for House committees to report House Bills and House Joint Resolutions was May 6, 2019. For bills or joint resolutions that did not get out of committee May 7, then it was the end of their legislative journey. Similarly, bills or joint resolutions that made it out of committee but not onto the House’s agenda are finished. And the bills and joint resolutions that did not come to a vote in the full House by midnight May 9, 2019 have also died in the House.

The last day for Senate committees to report Senate and Senate Joint Resolutions is May 18, 2019. The session will end May 27, 2019.

A number of bills related to the environmental have made it out of committee and have been sent to the governor, including bills related to promotion of recycling materials, groundwater conservation, fees for municipal solid waste committees, quarantines for ticks, and beneficial use of waste related to drilling or production of oil or gas. 

We’d love to know what bills you are watching. Send an email to rachel@cechouston.org

More information about the 86th Texas Legislative session can be found at capitol.texas.gov.

Bills that have been signed by the Governor

  • SB 743: Relating to the Texas Olive Oil Industry Advisory Board.

Bills that have been sent to the Governor

  • SB 649: Relating to promotion of the use of recyclable materials as feedstock for processing and manufacturing.
  • HB 1066: Relating to extensions of an expired permit for the transfer of groundwater from a groundwater conservation district.
  • HB 1331: Relating to the application fee for a permit for a municipal solid waste facility; imposing a fee.
  • HB 1627: Relating to the removal of certain counties from the Texas emissions reduction plan.
  • HB 3246: Relating to the treatment and recycling for beneficial use of certain waste arising out of or incidental to the drilling for or production of oil or gas.
  • HB 3348: Relating to the eligibility of land on which the Texas Animal Health Commission has established a temporary quarantine for ticks for appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes as agricultural or open-space land.

Senate

BILLS RECEIVED AND ASSIGNED TO SENATE COMMITTEES

  • Health and Human Services
    • HB 1694: Relating to limitations on food regulations at farms, farmers’ markets, and cottage food production operations.
  • Natural Resources and Economic Development
    • HB 907: Relating to the penalty for failure to register certain aggregate production operations with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
    • HB 3224: Relating to a study on the creation of a defense under the Solid Waste Disposal Act for persons engaged in certain recycling transactions.
    • HB 4116: Relating to a voluntary financial assurance program for permit holders under the Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
  • Water and Rural Affairs
    • HB 720: Relating to appropriations of water for recharge of aquifers and use in aquifer storage and recovery projects.
    • HB 722: Relating to the development of brackish groundwater.
    • HB 726: Relating to the regulation of groundwater.
    • HB 3142: Relating to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reminders to public drinking water supply systems regarding reporting requirements.
    • HB 4595: Relating to a study and report on the optimum water level of Falcon Lake.

UPDATES ON SENATE COMMITTEES AND BILLS

House of Representatives

BILLS RECEIVED FROM SENATE AND ASSIGNED TO HOUSE COMMITTEES

  • Agriculture and Livestock
    • SB 1884: Relating to the protection of animal and crop facilities; creating a criminal offense.
  • Natural Resources
    • SB 911: Relating to the supervision of water districts by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

UPDATES ON HOUSE COMMITTEES AND BILLS