Legislative Initiative to Amend the Texas Environmental, Health, and Safety Audit Privilege Act is Successful
On May 24, 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed SB 1300, which amends the Texas Environmental, Health, and Safety Audit Privilege Act (the “Act”) to allow new owners that discovered compliance issues during due diligence to participate in the state audit program. The original Act is an excellent compliance tool that we frequently utilize to assist our clients with identifying and addressing environmental and health and safety issues at the facilities that they own and/or operate. Unfortunately, the Act did not work well in a transactional setting where a prospective purchaser discovers compliance issues during due diligence and then works to address them upon acquiring ownership of the facility. We have addressed that problem through the passage of SB 1300 during the recent 83rd Regular Texas Legislative Session. The changes to the Act will become effective on September 1, 2013.
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