House Bill 2702 is an omnibus bill addressing transportation facilities and other transportation issues in this state.

Article 1, Rail Facilities, amends the Transportation Code to transfer all powers and duties of the Railroad Commission of Texas that relate primarily to railroads and the regulation of railroads to the Texas Department of Transportation, effective October 1, 2005. It authorizes the department to enter into comprehensive development agreements for rail facilities and to combine a rail facility and a toll project in an agreement. It prohibits the department from spending money from the general revenue fund for rail facilities except pursuant to a line-item appropriation, rather than setting the limit on annual disbursements from the state highway fund for rail facilities at $12.5 million. It authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with a public or private entity that provides for the payment of certain fees to the entity as reimbursement for designing, building, and operating a passenger or freight rail facility.

Article 2, Highways, prohibits obligations from the Texas Mobility Fund if the Texas Transportation Commission or the department requires that toll roads be included in a regional mobility plan in order for a local transportation authority to receive an allocation from the fund. It authorizes the commission to acquire property necessary or convenient to a state highway to provide a location for an ancillary facility, including a gas station, garage, store, hotel, restaurant, or other commercial facility, that is anticipated to generate revenue for a toll project. It requires the department, to pay the value of the property acquired and, if an acquisition of real property for a state highway severs an owner's real property, to pay the damages to the remainder of the owner's property, including damages caused by the inaccessibility of one tract from the other. It specifies that if the remaining property is agriculture or open space land outside the municipal limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality with a population of 25,000 or more, the commission is required to consider the loss of reasonable access to or from the remaining property in determining the damage to the property owner. It requires a utility to relocate a utility facility at state expense if the relocation is required by improvement of a segment of the state highway system that was designated by the commission as a turnpike project or toll project before September 1, 2005, and it requires the department and the utility to share the relocation cost under certain circumstances. It provides that money granted by the department each year for constructing toll facilities may not exceed an amount that, together with the money granted for the preceding four fiscal years, results in an average annual expenditure of $2 billion, rather than $800 million. It authorizes the department to enter into a comprehensive development agreement with a private entity to design, build, operate, and expand a facility on the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) and certain other projects, and it establishes a process for entering into the agreements. It provides that if the department enters into a comprehensive development agreement with a private participant that includes the collection of tolls, the private participant must submit the methodology for setting and increasing the tolls to the department for approval, and it provides that such an agreement may not be for a term longer than 50 years. It provides that property within the TTC that is licensed or leased to a private entity for a commercial purpose is not exempt from ad valorem taxation and is subject to local zoning regulations and building standards. It requires the department to ensure that at each intersection of the TTC and an interstate, state, or United States highway, the corridor and the highway are directly accessible to each other, and it requires the department to make every reasonable effort to connect the TTC with significant farm-to-market roads and certain other roads. It prohibits the department from pumping or extracting groundwater from the right-of-way of the TTC unless the groundwater is needed for a state highway or other transportation facility, other than a public utility facility. The bill also provides that if a well drilled and operated on the TTC is located inside the boundaries of a groundwater conservation or subsidence district, the well is subject to the rules of the district. Regarding right-of-way acquisition for the TTC, the bill prohibits the commission from acquiring property for an ancillary facility that will be used for commercial purposes except to acquire property for a gas station, convenience store, or similar facility in a specified location. It prohibits the commission from condemning property contiguous to an existing or planned segment of the TTC for an ancillary facility. It authorizes the department to lease property or rights on the TTC, unless the lease is under a comprehensive development agreement, only if each agreement has been approved by the local county commissioners court. It requires toll revenue from a state highway toll project to be deposited in the state highway fund unless it is to be used to repay toll revenue bonds. It specifies when the department may operate a nontolled state highway or a segment of a nontolled state highway as a toll project and requires a local election to approve conversion of a state highway or a segment of a highway to a toll project. The bill provides for a regional mobility authority to construct, own, operate, maintain, and acquire a transit system. It amends the Government Code to authorize a county to issue bonds for a toll or nontoll project or facility on the state highway system located in the county or, as a continuation of the project or facility, in an adjacent county.

Article 3, Vehicles, authorizes the department to seek funding from public and private sources to establish and operate hydrogen-fueled vehicles and refueling stations and to establish the refueling stations on the TTC.

Article 4, Coordination of Public Transportation for Health and Human Services Programs, amends the Transportation Code, the Health and Safety Code, and the Human Resources Code to authorize the department to deliver public transportation services to clients of eligible programs.

Article 5, Regional Transit System Review Committee, creates the committee to study the implications of implementing regional transit service in a certain region of the state.

Article 6, Carriers Transporting Household Goods, prohibits a motor carrier from operating a vehicle, regardless of the vehicle's size, to transport household goods for compensation unless the carrier registers with the department.

Article 7, Texas Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division, amends the Occupations Code to provide that a reference in law to the motor vehicle board of the department means the director of the division unless the reference relates to the adoption of rules.

Article 8, Transition Provisions and Effective Date, abolishes the State Aircraft Pooling Board and transfers its powers and duties to the department.

House Bill 2702	House Author: Krusee
Effective: 6-14-05	Senate Sponsor: Staples