By Martin H.B. No. 2657
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to prohibition of unauthorized structures on land owned by
1-3 the state
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 33.004, Chapter 33, Natural Resources
1-6 Code is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 33.004. Definitions. In this chapter:
1-8 (1) "Land office" means the General Land Office.
1-9 (2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the
1-10 General Land Office.
1-11 (3) "Board" means the School Land Board.
1-12 (4) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership,
1-13 association, corporation which is public or private and profit or
1-14 non-profit, trust or political subdivision or agency of the state.
1-15 (5) "Coastal area" means the geographic area
1-16 comprising all the counties in Texas which have any tidewater
1-17 shoreline, including that portion of the bed and water of the Gulf
1-18 of Mexico within the jurisdiction of the State of Texas.
1-19 (6) "Coastal submerged land" means all or any portion
1-20 of state-owned submerged land, the water overlying that land, and
1-21 all state-owned islands or portions of islands in the coastal area.
1-22 (7) "Island" means any body of land surrounded by the
1-23 water of a saltwater lake, bay, inlet, estuary, or inland body of
2-1 water within the tidewater limits of this state and shall include
2-2 man-made islands resulting from dredging or other operations.
2-3 (8) "Management program" means the coastal public land
2-4 management program provided by this chapter and shall include a
2-5 comprehensive statement in words, maps, illustrations, or other
2-6 media inventorying coastal public land resources and capabilities
2-7 and setting forth objectives, policies, and standards to guide
2-8 planning and to control the utilization of those resources.
2-9 (9) "Seaward" means the direction away from the shore
2-10 and toward the body of water bounded by the shore.
2-11 (10) "Structure" means any structure, work, or
2-12 improvement constructed on, affixed to, or worked on coastal public
2-13 land, including fixed or floating piers, wharves, docks, jetties,
2-14 groins, breakwaters, artificial reefs, fences, posts, retaining
2-15 walls, levees, ramps, permanently moored vessels, cabins, houses,
2-16 shelters, landfills, excavations, land canals, channels, and roads.
2-17 (11) "Submerged land" means any land extending from
2-18 the boundary between the land of the state and the littoral owners
2-19 seaward to the low-water mark on any saltwater lake, bay, inlet,
2-20 estuary, or inland water within the tidewater limits, and any land
2-21 lying beneath the body of water, but for the purposes of this
2-22 chapter only, shall exclude beaches bordering on and the water of
2-23 the open Gulf of Mexico and the land lying beneath this water.
2-24 (12) "Littoral owner," in this chapter only, means the
2-25 owner of any public or private upland bordered by or contiguous to
3-1 coastal public land.
3-2 (13) "Vessel" means any watercraft capable of floating
3-3 in water, whether propelled by machinery or not, including but not
3-4 limited to, boats, houseboats, barges, canoes, punts, rowboats or
3-5 sailboats.
3-6 (14) "Permanently moored" means to be left in place
3-7 for more than 21 consecutive days.
3-8 (15) "Unauthorized structure" means any structure on
3-9 coastal public land not authorized by a proper easement, lease,
3-10 permit or other instrument from the state as required by chapter 33
3-11 or 51 of the Natural Resources Code.
3-12 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.