By ChisumH.B. No. 3129
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Texas Board of Health and the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission to grant exemptions from requirements relating to the regulation of
sources of radiation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 401.003(12) and (26), Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as
follows:
(12) "General license" means a license issued under department or commission rules
for which an application is not required to be filed to transfer, dispose of, acquire, own, possess,
or use quantities of or devices or equipment that make use of by-product, source, special nuclear,
or other radioactive material.
(26) "Naturally occurring radioactive material waste" or "NORM waste" means
solid, liquid, or gaseous material or combination of materials, excluding source material, special
nuclear material, and by-product material, that:
(A) in its natural physical state spontaneously emits radiation; and
(B) is discarded or unwanted[; and
[(C) is not exempt by department rule adopted under Section 401.106].
SECTION 2. Section 401.104(b), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The commission by rule shall provide for general or specific licensing for the disposal of
radioactive material except by-product material defined by Section 401.003(3)(B).
SECTION 3. Section 401.106, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 401.106. EXEMPTION FROM LICENSING, [OR] REGISTRATION, OR DISPOSAL
REQUIREMENTS. (a) The board by rule may exempt a source of radiation or a kind of use or
user from the licensing or registration requirements, within its jurisdiction as defined in Section
401.011(a), [provided by this chapter] if the board finds that the exemption of that source of
radiation or kind of use or user will not constitute a significant risk to the public health and safety
and the environment.
(b) The commission by rule may grant an exemption from a requirement of this chapter
relating to the disposal of radioactive substances, within its jurisdiction as defined in Section
401.011(b), if the commission finds that the exemption will not constitute a significant risk to the
public health and safety and the environment.
(c) A person may request the department or commission, as appropriate, to determine
whether the person is entitled to an exemption under rules adopted under this section. The
department or commission shall issue a letter to the person stating its determination. A
determination under this subsection is not a contested case under Chapter 2001, Government
Code.
SECTION 4. Section 401.301, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subsection (d)
to read as follows:
(d) The department may collect a fee from each person who requests a determination under
Section 401.106(c). The board by rule shall set the fee in an amount that does not exceed the
department's expenses related to the determination.
SECTION 5. Subchapter K, Chapter 401, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding
Section 401.4135 to read as follows:
Sec. 401.4135. EXEMPTION DETERMINATION FEE. The commission may collect a fee
from each person who requests a determination under Section 401.106(c). The commission by
rule shall set the fee in an amount that does not exceed the commission's expenses related to the
determination. A fee collected under this section shall be deposited to the credit of the waste
management account and may be used by the commission for expenses incurred in administering
this chapter.
SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in
both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule
requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is
hereby suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it
is so enacted.