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Tex. Health & Safety Code § 1101.152

NATURE OF VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE

Known as the Texas Environmental, Health, and Safety Audit Privilege Act

The act spans §§ 1101.001 to 1101.158 (21 sections).

Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 324 (S.B. 1488), Sec. 20.002(a), eff

(a) A disclosure is voluntary for purposes of this subchapter only if:

(1) the disclosure was made:

(A) promptly after knowledge of the information disclosed is obtained by the person making the disclosure; or

(B) not later than the 45th day after the acquisition closing date, if the violation was discovered during an audit conducted before the acquisition closing date by a person considering the acquisition of the regulated facility or operation;

(2) the disclosure was made in writing by certified mail to an agency that has regulatory authority with regard to the violation disclosed;

(3) an investigation of the violation was not initiated or the violation was not independently detected by an agency with enforcement jurisdiction before the disclosure was made using certified mail;

(4) the disclosure arises out of a voluntary environmental or health and safety audit;

(5) the person making the disclosure initiates an appropriate effort to achieve compliance, pursues that effort with due diligence, and corrects the noncompliance within a reasonable time;

(6) the person making the disclosure cooperates with the appropriate agency in connection with an investigation of the issues identified in the disclosure; and

(7) the violation did not result in:

(A) injury or imminent and substantial risk of serious injury to one or more persons at the site; or

(B) off-site substantial actual harm or imminent and substantial risk of harm to persons, property, or the environment.

(b) For a disclosure described by Subsection (a)(1)(B), the person making the disclosure must certify in the disclosure that before the acquisition closing date:

(1) the person was not responsible for the environmental, health, or safety compliance at the regulated facility or operation that is subject to the disclosure;

(2) the person did not have the largest ownership share of the seller;

(3) the seller did not have the largest ownership share of the person; and

(4) the person and the seller did not have a common corporate parent or a common majority interest owner.

(c) A disclosure is not voluntary for purposes of this subchapter if the disclosure is a report to a regulatory agency required solely by a specific condition of an enforcement order or decree.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.