State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) has filed a package of bills designed to address vulnerabilities exposed by Hurricane Ike.  

FILES HURRICANE LEGISLATION – State Sen. Dan Patrick has filed legislation intended to address vulnerabilities exposed by Hurricane Ike.

Patrick said the bills were drafted after months of planning and input both from private and public interests.  The subjects covered are a direct response to the difficulties communities faced before and after Hurricane Ike.

“One of our most critical responsibilities is to protect our citizens,” Patrick said.  “We must first thank and honor those who gave of themselves during the difficult days in September.  Then we must learn from what happened and plan for future disasters.”

Senate Bill 360, co-authored with Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte), creates a sales tax holiday for hurricane preparedness.  The bill will establish the tax holiday during the first weekend of June for hurricane preparedness items.  Among the items exempted from sales tax by the bill are flashlights, fuel containers, batteries and generators. 

Patrick stressed the bill is not expected to cost the state in lost tax revenue. He noted the current sales tax holiday for back-to-school items has made August a banner month for sales tax collections.

Senate Bill 361 also requires all municipal utility districts to have operating emergency generator power so fresh water distribution and wastewater treatment is not interrupted during widespread power outages.  During the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the availability of drinking water and effective wastewater treatment was an immediate concern that grew as power outages continued. 

Patrick noted that within 75 miles of the coast, there are 1,287 community water systems.  Twenty percent of the water systems serving approximately 7 million people in the affected area were out of service for varying periods of time. 

Of the MUDs that had generators, roughly 25 percent failed to function or ran out of fuel.  Fourteen percent of the wastewater lift stations in the hurricane affected area discharged into open streams. Even nine days after the storm, nearly 250,000 people lacked running water.

Patrick’s bill requires all community systems to ensure the operation of fresh water and wastewater operations during an extended power outage.  The bill’s requirement may be met either through automatically starting generators, sharing generator capacity, contract and leasing agreements or having waste water bypass systems.

Additionally, Patrick’s legislation increases criminal penalties for looting during hurricanes or other states of emergency.  The bill also increases the penalty for theft when the crime occurs during either a mandatory or voluntary evacuation for events such as hurricanes.

“I am focused on providing local governments the tools they need to protect their citizens.  I believe this package of bills will allow our citizens to be more prepared and better protected when the next hurricane hits the Texas gulf coast,” Patrick said.