The Senate Committee on Natural Resources advanced a committee substitute for House Bill 30 71 that changes how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may treat canceled municipal solid waste landfill permits and sent the measure to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

The committee adopted the substitute and voted to report the bill to the full Senate by a recorded vote of nine ayes and no nays. Senator Hancock, who sponsored the Senate substitute, explained the changes on the committee floor.

"The committee substitute makes the following changes ... and it deals with the TCEQ issue where the TCEQ can cancel permit issue on a municipal solid waste landfill," Senator Hancock said. She said the substitute would apply a 25-consecutive-months-of-inactivity provision to satisfy cancellation and would remove a provision that would have prevented the TCEQ from approving a subsequent permit application for a facility that had a canceled permit. "And lastly, it changes the effective date of September 1 to effective immediately with the 2 thirds vote," she said.

Committee action was procedural: the substitute was adopted and the committee moved the bill forward for consideration by the full Senate, with Senator Hancock recommending placement on the local and uncontested calendar. The committee record shows nine ayes, no nays. The transcript shows no extended debate or additional amendments during the committee's consideration of this item.

If enacted as described by the substitute, the bill would (1) treat 25 consecutive months of inactivity as satisfying a cancellation trigger for a municipal solid waste landfill permit, (2) remove a bar on the TCEQ approving a subsequent permit application for a facility whose prior permit was canceled, and (3) make the bill effective immediately upon the Legislature's required two-thirds vote rather than on Sept. 1. The committee did not specify statutory citations on the record; the discussion referenced TCEQ permit cancellation practice and agency action.

The committee took no final action that directly changes TCEQ rules; it reported a bill to the full Senate that, if passed and signed, would change statutory language and thereby affect how TCEQ processes certain landfill permit situations. The full Senate will consider the committee substitute next.