SB1758

Liability protection: an owner or operator of a facility operating under a new-source-review air permit authorizing a portland cement kiln or aggregate production is not liable for damage to a semiconductor-wafer facility caused by seismic or vibrational disturbances from its on-site activities if the cement or aggregate facility began operating first. This is not blanket immunity for every kind of pollution or injury. It applies only to legal claims that accrue on or after June 22, 2025; earlier claims remain governed by prior law. This statewide provision has no September 2031 expiration date in the act. Final law, new Section 382.602 and section 3.

Grayson County permit restriction: the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may not issue, renew or amend an air permit, or authorize a standard permit or permit by rule, for a covered cement-kiln facility within 10 miles of a qualifying semiconductor-wafer facility in Grayson County. The semiconductor facility must have begun commercial operation after January 1, 2025, and before December 31, 2025. The kiln facility must be proposed under, or operating under, a new-source-review permit and be associated with a facility producing aggregates at a qualifying aggregate production operation. The restriction is not a statewide 10-mile ban on all quarries, nor an automatic cancellation of every existing permit. The pilot subchapter expires September 1, 2031. Final law, Sections 382.651–382.655.

The wafer-facility definition includes specified processes: growing single-crystal ingots or boules, wafer slicing, etching and polishing, bonding, cleaning, epitaxial deposition and metrology. The imported aggregate-production definition has exclusions, including certain sites supplying cement or lightweight-aggregate production or lime kilns, temporary public-works sites and specified on-site construction uses. Eligibility therefore cannot be decided merely by calling a site a “quarry” or a factory a “chip plant.” Final law, Sections 382.601 and 382.651; Aggregate-operation definition.

Study and report: UT Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology must consult affected facility owners/operators in Grayson County, analyze seismic data and bedrock vibration, study successful wafer operations within 10 miles, and investigate whether a minimum distance is needed, considering excavation depth. It may collaborate with public and private entities, enter nondisclosure agreements and accept gifts, grants and donations. The statutory report deadline was August 1, 2026, with results and recommendations due to state leaders and relevant legislative committees. This review describes that duty; it does not establish whether the report was submitted or what it found. The act does not make the permit restriction end when the report is issued. Final law, Sections 382.653–382.655.

Changes before passage: the Senate substitute expanded the earlier-operator liability protection from cement kilns to qualifying aggregate production. It required commercial wafer operations, replaced the “includes or adjacent to” aggregate-site condition with “associated with,” and asked the study to investigate a minimum distance while considering excavation depth, instead of focusing on a distance greater than 10 miles. It moved the report deadline from March 31 to August 1, 2026, added permits by rule to the restriction and added a clause preserving other workable provisions if part of the act is held invalid. The Senate-passed, House committee and final texts retained these changes; no floor amendments are indexed. Introduced; Senate substitute; Senate-passed; House committee; Version index; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Earlier-operating qualifying cement and aggregate businesses gain protection against the specified vibration-damage claims; later wafer plants may lose that route to damages. Qualifying Grayson County wafer operations may benefit from the permit restriction, while covered kiln projects face limits on obtaining, renewing or changing air authorization. The study could inform future policy, but the act does not establish a scientifically safe distance or guarantee protection from all vibration. Final law.

The March 25 introduced and April 3 substitute fiscal notes estimate a $1,222,500 cost to general revenue for the two-year period ending August 31, 2027, all placed in fiscal year 2026, with four full-time-equivalent staff positions and equipment for the study. Their tables show no additional cost in fiscal years 2027–2030. They also flag possible, unquantifiable revenue effects from the kiln-permit limits and anticipate no significant local-government fiscal impact. These are estimates, not actual spending or an appropriation: the bill itself appropriates no money. The substitute fiscal note’s prose says August 31 for the report, but the enacted deadline is August 1. Introduced fiscal note; Substitute fiscal note; Final law.