| (a) Special districts. The Texas Health and Safety
Code (THSC) applies to political subdivisions of the state to which
the legislature has given waste handling authority for two or more
counties. The relationship between the agency and any such waste handling
authority will be similar to that between the agency and a county.
(b) Municipal governments. Municipalities may enforce
the provisions of this chapter as provided for in the THSC and the
Texas Water Code (TWC). The commission is committed to assisting municipal
governments in an educational and advisory capacity. The commission
is a necessary and indispensable party to any suit filed by a local
government under the THSC and the TWC.
(c) County governments. County governments may exercise
the authority provided in THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364, regarding
the management of solid waste including the enforcement of the requirements
of the THSC and of this chapter. The provisions of THSC, Chapters
361, 363, and 364, allow county governments to require and issue licenses
authorizing and governing the operation and maintenance of facilities
used for the storage, processing, or disposal of solid waste not in
the territorial or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality.
THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364, provide that no license for disposal
of solid waste may be issued, renewed, or extended without the prior
approval of the commission. Under TWC, Chapter 7, the commission is
a necessary and indispensable party to any suit filed by a local government
for the violation of any provision of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
If an authorization is issued, renewed, or extended by the commission,
the owner or operator of the facility does not need to obtain a separate
license for the same facility from a county or from a political subdivision
as defined in THSC, Chapters 361, 363, and 364.
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