Overall Vote Recommendation

Principle Criteria

Free Enterprise

Property Rights

Personal Responsibility

Limited Government

Individual Liberty

Digest

HB 5151 prohibits the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) from issuing a new air quality permit, approving a permit amendment, or authorizing the use of a standard permit for certain aggregate production or crushing facilities located within a narrowly defined geographic area. The prohibition applies only to facilities proposed within four miles of a river authority-owned or operated lake that supports a national fish hatchery, within four miles of the entrance to a state park containing a cavern designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1971, and within two miles of a youth camp founded in 1975 and licensed by the Department of State Health Services. The bill adds this restriction as Section 382.070 of the Health and Safety Code.

The bill applies prospectively and does not affect facilities already operating under an air quality permit or a standard permit authorization granted on or before January 1, 2025. Existing operations meeting the grandfather date may continue under their current authorizations, while new facilities meeting the bill's geographic criteria would be ineligible to receive the necessary state air permitting approvals.

The Committee Substitute for HB 5151 narrows the scope of the originally filed bill by replacing a broad prohibition on certain mining activities with a targeted restriction on state air permitting for specific aggregate facilities. As originally filed, the bill prohibited the establishment of new mines, quarries, or rock crushing facilities within the specified geographic area, regardless of the type of regulatory approval involved.

The Committee Substitute instead amends Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, to prohibit the TCEQ from issuing an air quality permit, approving a permit amendment, or authorizing the use of a standard permit for facilities used for the production or crushing of aggregates in the same narrowly defined location. Rather than broadly banning mining operations, the substitute focuses specifically on the state's air permitting authority for aggregate production and crushing facilities. It also replaces the original references to "mines, quarries, or rock crushing facilities" with facilities used for the "production or crushing of aggregates," using the definition of "aggregates" found in the Water Code.

The Committee Substitute also relocates the new provision within the Health and Safety Code. The originally filed bill created new Section 382.006 in Subchapter A, while the substitute instead adds Section 382.070 to Subchapter C, integrating the restriction into the chapter governing air quality permitting. Both versions preserve a grandfather provision exempting facilities already operating under the applicable authorization on or before January 1, 2025, and both retain the same effective date provisions.

Author (3)

Terry Wilson Ellen Troxclair John Bryant

Contact the Author

Rep. Terry Wilson

Capitol Phone:

(512) 463-0309

Capitol Office:

EXT E2.722

E-Mail:

[email protected]

Visit Official Website

Fiscal Notes

According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), the bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact on the state government. The LBB estimates that any administrative costs associated with implementing the bill could be absorbed using existing agency resources, indicating that no additional appropriations or staffing would be required.

The LBB also concludes that the bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact on units of local government. As a result, the legislation is not anticipated to create meaningful new costs or savings for counties, municipalities, or other local governmental entities. The fiscal analysis is based on information provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Vote Recommendation Notes

While the bill seeks to protect sensitive environmental and recreational resources, it does so by imposing a statutory prohibition on otherwise lawful economic activity rather than relying on the state's existing permitting process to evaluate projects on their individual merits. The bill prohibits the issuance of new air quality permits for qualifying aggregate facilities within a narrowly defined geographic area, replacing case-by-case regulatory review with a categorical legislative ban. This represents an additional government restriction on private property use and business development.

Although the bill does not create a new agency, expand rulemaking authority, or increase taxpayer spending, it nonetheless expands the scope of government regulation by limiting where future aggregate production facilities may locate, regardless of whether an applicant could satisfy existing environmental permitting standards. From a limited-government perspective, this shifts policymaking away from objective, performance-based regulation toward legislatively imposed land-use restrictions.

The bill also establishes a precedent for creating industry-specific exclusion zones through statute. While the affected area is narrow, future legislatures could employ similar approaches to restrict other lawful industries in response to localized concerns. Conservatives and libertarians who favor predictable, generally applicable regulatory standards over targeted statutory prohibitions may view this as an unwarranted expansion of government authority over private enterprise. Accordingly, Texas Policy Research recommends that lawmakers vote NO on HB 5151.

Individual Liberty: The bill restricts the ability of individuals and businesses to engage in otherwise lawful economic activity by prohibiting new air quality permits for qualifying aggregate facilities in a specified area. While it does not regulate personal conduct, it limits the freedom to develop and operate a lawful business in the affected location.
Personal Responsibility: The bill neither encourages nor discourages individual responsibility. It does not shift responsibilities between individuals and government or create incentives that materially affect personal decision-making. Its primary effect is on permitting rather than personal behavior.
Free Enterprise: The bill increases regulatory barriers to market entry by prohibiting future aggregate production and crushing facilities from obtaining the permits necessary to operate within the designated area. This limits competition, restricts investment opportunities, and may reduce future supply of construction materials in the affected region.
Private Property Rights: Although the bill does not take private property or authorize eminent domain, it limits how property owners may use their land by preventing certain otherwise lawful industrial development. The restriction is imposed by statute rather than through an individualized permitting determination, reducing owners' flexibility to develop their property.
Limited Government: The bill does not create a new agency, expand state spending, or grant additional rulemaking authority, but it does expand the scope of statutory regulation by replacing case-by-case permitting decisions with a legislative prohibition on future permitting in a defined area. It also establishes a precedent for using statute to prohibit lawful business activity in specific locations rather than relying on existing regulatory standards.

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