Legislative Update on Texas Dry Cleaning Remediation Program
By Frank J Corte Jr and Harvey Hilderbran of Capitol Chairman’s Alliance, LLC
April 14, 2021
Wow, the last thirty days has been remarkably busy for the leaders of the DCRP Extension Task Force. We have had hearings on both the house and senate versions of the DCRP extension bills and the legislation is moving through the legislative process. Much has happened to advance the extension of this critical legislation for the Texas Dry Cleaning and Garment Care Industry.
The Senate committee met to have a hearing on its version of the legislation on March 16th. It was eventually voted out of committee and then voted out of the Senate on March 30th. Both Erika Paine and Danny Bahlman testified before the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, they did an outstanding job. Before the passage of SB 872 from the full Senate, we were able to get a hearing on HB 2072 the House version of DCRP extension legislation on March 22nd. The leaders of the DCRP Extension Task Force returned to provide testimony. There was no opposing testimony like in the Senate committee hearing, Danny Bahlman and Allan Cripe testified for the Task Force. They did an exceptional job. The bill was left pending to be voted out later. Due to the Easter weekend the house committee did not meet on April 4th, that following Monday, and it was not until this past Monday, April 12th, that the House Committee on Environmental Regulation voted out SB 872 favorably since it was over from the Senate and eligible. The committee vote was 7-0, two members of the committee were absent at the time of the vote. This is all great news because that means that now the legislation is headed to the House floor for a vote which is our next step to getting this pending legislation into law.
So, what is next?
SB 872 was sent to the Local and Consent Calendars Committee which will set the bill for its 2nd reading on the house floor. That date is not known at this time. We expect it to be a couple of weeks. We will continue to communicate with the membership and leadership of the Texas House of Representatives to achieve this goal. Once it is placed for consideration on the calendar it will be presented to the entire members of the Texas House for a vote. Once SB 872 passes the House favorably then it will be sent to the Governor. However we still have much to do.
During the last 45 days out emails to members of the Texas delegation of SDA to solicit their assistance in communicating with members of the Senate and House committees as this legislative action was in the process. Thank you to those that assisted. I know that the senators and representatives appreciate this communication from their constituents. We will continue to ask for your involvement during the remaining process of the legislative action until the bill is signed by the Governor. Be looking for an email from us to let you know what action is needed. If you want to make sure you know who represents you in the Texas House, you can go to this link to find out.
The remaining days of April is expected to be a busy month as well and that is important since our goal is not to have this legislation get bottled up in the process in the last days of the session. Please contact Harvey or I at either cortegroup@gmail.com or hilderbranh@gmail.com if you have any questions.