SECTION 326.65. Relationships with Other Governmental Entities

(a) Special districts. The Texas Health and Safety Code (THSC) applies to political subdivisions of the state to which the legislature has given waste handling authority for two or more counties. The relationship between the agency and any such waste handling authority will be similar to that between the agency and a county.

(b) Municipal governments. Municipalities may enforce the provisions of this chapter as provided for in the THSC and the Texas Water Code (TWC). The commission is committed to assisting municipal governments in an educational and advisory capacity. The commission is a necessary and indispensable party to any suit filed by a local government under the THSC and the TWC.

(c) County governments. County governments may exercise the authority provided in THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364, regarding the management of solid waste including the enforcement of the requirements of the THSC and of this chapter. The provisions of THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364, allow county governments to require and issue licenses authorizing and governing the operation and maintenance of facilities used for the storage, processing, or disposal of solid waste not in the territorial or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality. THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364, provide that no license for disposal of solid waste may be issued, renewed, or extended without the prior approval of the commission. Under TWC, Chapter 7, the commission is a necessary and indispensable party to any suit filed by a local government for the violation of any provision of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. If an authorization is issued, renewed, or extended by the commission, the owner or operator of the facility does not need to obtain a separate license for the same facility from a county or from a political subdivision as defined in THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364.

Source Note: The provisions of this §326.65 adopted to be effective May 26, 2016, 41 TexReg 3697