2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB3071
HB3071 requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to cancel a municipal-solid-waste landfill permit if the facility has accepted no waste for 25 consecutive years—but only in the locations defined by the law.
Official caption: Relating to cancellation of certain solid waste disposal permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Official report lists House author(s): Geren. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB3071 requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to cancel a municipal-solid-waste landfill permit if the facility has accepted no waste for 25 consecutive years—but only in the locations defined by the law.
- Extraterritorial jurisdiction means a designated unincorporated area adjoining a city's boundaries, not the city itself or the entire county. “Municipal solid waste” describes a waste category; it does not mean that only city-owned landfills are covered.
- The final law does not require an ownership change before cancellation and does not prohibit a later permit application for the same facility.
- The act took effect June 20, 2025, when it became law without the governor's signature.
What does it do?
HB3071 requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to cancel a municipal-solid-waste landfill permit if the facility has accepted no waste for 25 consecutive years—but only in the locations defined by the law. The facility must be in a county with more than 2.1 million people and in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of that county’s principal municipality, which must have more than 900,000 people. Both geographic conditions apply; this is not a statewide expiration rule for every landfill permit. Final law.
Extraterritorial jurisdiction means a designated unincorporated area adjoining a city’s boundaries, not the city itself or the entire county. “Municipal solid waste” describes a waste category; it does not mean that only city-owned landfills are covered. Extraterritorial-jurisdiction law; waste definitions.
The final law does not require an ownership change before cancellation and does not prohibit a later permit application for the same facility. Those features appeared in earlier versions but were removed. Their removal is not a promise that a new application will be approved. The trigger is 25 consecutive years without accepting waste, not simply a permit being 25 years old.
The act took effect June 20, 2025, when it became law without the governor’s signature. The final conference votes—101–30 in the House and 30–1 in the Senate—met the immediate-effect threshold. Official history.
What changed along the way?
The filed bill had no population/location restriction and proposed cancellation for either 25 years of nonuse or, in the specified owner-permit situation, a change of owner. The House committee substitute added the geographic limits, joined the inactivity and ownership conditions, and barred a later permit for the same facility.
Geren’s adopted House amendment removed the provision limiting the ownership rule to future transfers. The Senate substitute then removed the ownership condition and future-permit ban altogether and added the possibility of immediate effect. The House initially refused concurrence, but the conference report adopted the Senate text on both sections; that is the enrolled law. Amendment index; text versions.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Neighbors of a covered long-unused facility may gain protection against reliance on an old permit after surrounding land uses have changed. Permit holders lose that existing authorization and may face the cost and uncertainty of seeking a new one. TCEQ must determine whether the inactivity and location conditions are met. The act does not itself establish environmental contamination or cancel a named site’s permit by number.
The May 30 conference fiscal note anticipates no significant state fiscal impact, assuming costs can be absorbed using existing resources. Local-government fiscal effects could not be determined. It does not quantify property-value changes, private compliance costs or public-health benefits. The bill makes no appropriation.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
