No Zoning? HB 1137 Gives You a Real Hearing on Batch Plants

A concrete plant wants to set up next to your street. Your town never adopted zoning. Today the state can approve it after one hearing the law calls "not an evidentiary proceeding."

Plain English

On November 12, 2026, HB 1137 was filed in the Texas House. Texas Legislature Online lists the author as Ward Johnson. (FACT, HB 1137 bill history)

The caption: "Relating to the permitting of concrete batch plants located in an area of a municipality not subject to zoning regulations." (FACT, HB 1137 as filed)

It is short. Four sections. Here is what it does.

It applies to concrete plants that do wet batching, dry batching or central mixing. (FACT, HB 1137, new Sec. 382.051991(a), Health and Safety Code)

If that plant sits inside a city limit where the city has no zoning, TCEQ could not approve it under four of the permit paths in the Texas Clean Air Act. That includes the regular preconstruction permit, the general standard permit, permits by rule, and the temporary public works plant permit. (FACT, Sec. 382.051991(b))

TCEQ could still let the plant use the concrete plant standard permit in Section 382.05198. But the applicant would have to go through the full notice and hearing process in Section 382.056 first, instead of the shorter concrete plant process in Section 382.05199. (FACT, Sec. 382.051991(c) and (d))

It takes effect September 1, 2027, and only covers applications filed on or after that date. (FACT, HB 1137, Sections 3 and 4)

Why it matters

Here is the process the bill would replace for these plants.

Under current law, a concrete plant using the standard permit publishes a newspaper notice and holds one public hearing in the county 30 to 45 days later. Anyone can speak. But the law says that hearing "is not an evidentiary proceeding," and Section 382.056 and the state's Administrative Procedure Act "do not apply." (FACT, Sec. 382.05199(f) and (g))

Then the executive director has 35 days to approve or deny, based on whether the plant meets the standard permit checklist. (FACT, Sec. 382.05199(h))

Section 382.056 is different. The notice has to tell the public, in emphasized print, that a person who may be affected by the plant's emissions is entitled to request a hearing. The applicant has to put a sign on the site and put a copy of the application in a public place in the county. (FACT, Sec. 382.056(b) through (d))

So the bill does not ban concrete plants. It changes who gets a real say before one goes up next door.

The receipt

The current standard permit already treats places without zoning differently.

If a plant is in an area not subject to municipal zoning, the central baghouse has to be at least 440 yards from any home, school or place of worship. (FACT, Sec. 382.05198(a)(19))

The standard permit also caps production at 300 cubic yards an hour and requires paved roads, watered stockpiles and filters on the silos. (FACT, Sec. 382.05198(a))

Fights over batch plants near homes keep showing up in Texas news. In August, Fort Bend County residents raised concerns over a proposed plant near homes and a school, as reported by KPRC. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE, KPRC Click2Houston)

What Ryan says

I am not against concrete. Every road, every slab, every church foundation in East Texas starts at a batch plant. (RYAN STATEMENT)

The state does have to consider your comments. But a hearing where you can talk and nothing is taken as evidence is a listening session. It is not a real hearing. (RYAN STATEMENT)

A lot of small towns never passed a zoning code. That was their choice, and I respect it. It should not mean the families who live there get less say than a family in a city that did. (RYAN STATEMENT)

If the plant meets the standard, it will get through a real hearing. If it cannot survive one, it should not be next to a house. (RYAN STATEMENT)

I want to see the bill tighten one thing: make it clear who counts as "affected" so a family on the next street is not shut out on a technicality. (RYAN STATEMENT)

What this does not prove

• It does not prove the bill will pass. It was filed today. No committee, no hearing, no vote.
• It does not prove any East Texas town has a plant coming. I have no permit application in front of me for this article.
• It does not prove a fuller hearing will stop any plant. It only changes the process.
• It does not prove which towns lack zoning. Check with your city hall.

What it does prove

• A filed House bill would end the shortcut permit paths for concrete batch plants inside city limits where the city has no zoning.
• Those plants would still have a route, but only through the full Section 382.056 notice and hearing process.
• Current law says the concrete plant public hearing is not an evidentiary proceeding.

The bottom line

Same state. Same plant. Different rights depending on whether your city council ever wrote a zoning code.

That is backwards. The family next to the plant should get the same shot at a real hearing either way.

Read the bill. It is one page. Then find out if your town has zoning before the truck shows up.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name. Read it. Share it. Send receipts, evidence, witnesses. Put eyes on the record.