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BRIEF: Also on Monday, the state House approved a Senate bill that would wrest jurisdiction over environmental crimes from local district attorneys and hand it over to the state. Senate Bill 1265 was amended in the House to allow district attorneys to bypass the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality if the accused party did not hold a permit with the state. In other words, local law enforcers could go after individuals without state oversight, but must rely on the state to pursue criminal charges on polluting corporations. Mike Sizemore, chief of staff for Senator Ken Armbrister who wrote the original bill said they don't mind the House amendment, as long as the bill makes it to the Governor's desk. "Basically the point of this bill is to make sure real criminal cases are prosecuted, instead of prosecuting accidents as crimes," Sizemore said. Sizemore called the amendment a compromise. The senate bill received sharp criticism from local district attorneys who accused legislators of attempting to limit the number of criminal prosecutions against industrial polluters. Chief of the Harris County District Attorney's environmental crimes unit Roger Haseman said the under-staffed, under-funded state agency would be more likely to asses civil and administrative penalties than to pursue criminal prosecution. Senator Arbrister's office denied the charge. Chief of staff Mike Sizemore said the state agency has the expertise to handle environmental crimes. He complained the Harris County District Attorney's office brought hundreds of illegitimate environmental crimes to court, which later had to be dropped. Harris County's chief environmental prosecutor Roger Haseman called this a blatant lie. "The legislators supporting this bill aren't interested in the truth, they're only interested in promoting the interests of big business," Haseman said. The Harris County District Attorney joins the majority of law enforcement agents around the state in rejecting Senate bill 1265, even with the House amendment that limits its scope. Erika McDonald, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Erika McDonald at erika@cechouston.org . This story was broadcast on May 7, 2003.