BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 1914
	By: Creighton
	Transportation
	5/31/2023
	Enrolled

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

The Sabine-Neches Navigation District has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers for several years to modernize the Sabine-Neches Waterway with a federally authorized deepening project that will make the waterway one of the first in the nation to meet the new depth of the Panama Canal. As the district begins the process for federal authorization to widen the channel to meet the growing needs of the waterway, this bill will clarify that the district is authorized to be the federal sponsor of such a widening project as well as the current deepening project.

[Note: While the statutory reference in this bill is to the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District, the following amendments affect the Sabine-Neches Navigation District of Jefferson County, Texas, as the successor agency to the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District.]

S.B. 1914 amends current law relating to improvement projects of the Sabine-Neches Navigation District of Jefferson County, Texas.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Sections 6B(b), (c), and (e), Chapter 1472, Acts of the 77th Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, as follows:

(b) Provides that the Jefferson County Waterway and Navigation District (district) is the project sponsor of the existing Sabine-Neches Waterway and any improvement project, rather than the improvement project, authorized by the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (Pub. L. No. 113-121) or any other federal development initiative to improve an existing facility of the district, deepen the Sabine-Neches Waterway, or widen the Sabine-Neches Waterway. Provides that the district is also the nonfederal cost-sharing sponsor of an improvement project under this section. Requires the navigation and canal commission of the district to make a determination on matters that may be required or desirable as a project sponsor to implement an improvement project under this section. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes.

(c) Authorizes the district to enter into any contract, agreement, including an economic development agreement, or lease as necessary or convenient to carry out any of the district's powers granted under this section in the district's capacity as project sponsor of an improvement project under this section. Makes conforming changes.

(e) Provides that the district is not required to obtain approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the district's contracts or financing related to an improvement project under this section. Makes conforming changes.

SECTION 2. (a) Provides that the legislature validates and confirms all governmental acts and proceedings of the Sabine-Neches Navigation District of Jefferson County, Texas, that were taken before the effective date of this Act.

(b) Provides that this section does not apply to any matter that on the effective date of this Act:

(1) is involved in litigation if the litigation ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final court judgment; or

(2) has been held invalid by a final court judgment.

SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2023.