Sec. 26.045. VOTER-APPROVAL TAX RATE RELIEF FOR POLLUTION CONTROL REQUIREMENTS. (a) The voter-approval tax rate for a political subdivision of this state is increased by the rate that, if applied to the current total value, would impose an amount of taxes equal to the amount the political subdivision will spend out of its maintenance and operation funds under Section 26.012(16) to pay for a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution that is necessary to meet the requirements of a permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(b) In this section, "facility, device, or method for control of air, water, or land pollution" means any land, structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment, or device, and any attachment or addition to or reconstruction, replacement, or improvement of that property, that is used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by any environmental protection agency of the United States or this state for the prevention, monitoring, control, or reduction of air, water, or land pollution.

(c) To receive an adjustment to the voter-approval tax rate under this section, a political subdivision shall present information to the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in a permit application or in a request for any exemption from a permit that would otherwise be required detailing:

(1) the anticipated environmental benefits from the installation of the facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution;

(2) the estimated cost of the pollution control facility, device, or method; and

(3) the purpose of the installation of the facility, device, or method, and the proportion of the installation that is pollution control property.

(d) Following submission of the information required by Subsection (c), the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall determine whether the facility, device, or method is used wholly or partly as a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution. If the executive director determines that the facility, device, or method is used wholly or partly to control pollution, the director shall issue a letter to the political subdivision stating that determination and the portion of the cost of the installation that is pollution control property.

(e) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may charge a political subdivision seeking a determination that property is pollution control property an additional fee not to exceed its administrative costs for processing the information, making the determination, and issuing the letter required by this section. The commission may adopt rules to implement this section.

(f) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality shall adopt rules establishing a nonexclusive list of facilities, devices, or methods for the control of air, water, or land pollution, which must include:

(1) coal cleaning or refining facilities;

(2) atmospheric or pressurized and bubbling or circulating fluidized bed combustion systems and gasification fluidized bed combustion combined cycle systems;

(3) ultra-supercritical pulverized coal boilers;

(4) flue gas recirculation components;

(5) syngas purification systems and gas-cleanup units;

(6) enhanced heat recovery systems;

(7) exhaust heat recovery boilers;

(8) heat recovery steam generators;

(9) superheaters and evaporators;

(10) enhanced steam turbine systems;

(11) methanation;

(12) coal combustion or gasification byproduct and coproduct handling, storage, or treatment facilities;

(13) biomass cofiring storage, distribution, and firing systems;

(14) coal cleaning or drying processes such as coal drying/moisture reduction, air jigging, precombustion decarbonization, and coal flow balancing technology;

(15) oxy-fuel combustion technology, amine or chilled ammonia scrubbing, fuel or emission conversion through the use of catalysts, enhanced scrubbing technology, modified combustion technology such as chemical looping, and cryogenic technology;

(16) if the United States Environmental Protection Agency adopts a final rule or regulation regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, property that is used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to capture carbon dioxide from an anthropogenic source in this state that is geologically sequestered in this state;

(17) fuel cells generating electricity using hydrogen derived from coal, biomass, petroleum coke, or solid waste; and

(18) any other equipment designed to prevent, capture, abate, or monitor nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, mercury, carbon monoxide, or any criteria pollutant.

(g) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality by rule shall update the list adopted under Subsection (f) at least once every three years. An item may be removed from the list if the commission finds compelling evidence to support the conclusion that the item does not render pollution control benefits.

(h) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, if the facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution described in a permit application or in a request for any exemption from a permit that would otherwise be required is a facility, device, or method included on the list adopted under Subsection (f), the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, not later than the 30th day after the date of receipt of the information required by Subsections (c)(2) and (3) and without regard to whether the information required by Subsection (c)(1) has been submitted, shall determine that the facility, device, or method described in the permit application or in the request for an exemption from a permit that would otherwise be required is used wholly or partly as a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution and shall take the action that is required by Subsection (d) in the event such a determination is made.

(i) A political subdivision of the state seeking an adjustment in its voter-approval tax rate under this section shall provide to its tax assessor a copy of the letter issued by the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Subsection (d). The tax assessor shall accept the copy of the letter from the executive director as conclusive evidence that the facility, device, or method is used wholly or partly as pollution control property and shall adjust the voter-approval tax rate for the political subdivision as provided for by Subsection (a).

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 285, Sec. 4, eff. Aug. 30, 1993.

Amended by:

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1277 (H.B. 3732), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2007.

Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 944 (S.B. 2), Sec. 44, eff. January 1, 2020.

Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 944 (S.B. 2), Sec. 45, eff. January 1, 2020.