S.B. No. 348
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the control of certain airports, air navigation
1-2 facilities, and airport hazard areas.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 14, Municipal Airports Act (Article
1-5 46d-14, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by amending
1-6 Subsections (a) and (c), by relettering part of Subsection (a) as
1-7 Subsection (a-1), and by adding Subsections (c-1), (c-2), and (c-3)
1-8 to read as follows:
1-9 (a) Definitions <Authorization>. For the purposes of this
1-10 Section, unless otherwise qualified:
1-11 (1) "Public<, the term "public> agency" includes a
1-12 municipality, as defined in this Act, any agency of the State
1-13 government and of the United States, and any municipality,
1-14 political subdivision, and agency of another State.
1-15 (2) "Governing<; and the term "governing> body" means
1-16 the governing body of a county or municipality, and the head of the
1-17 agency if the public agency is other than a county or municipality.
1-18 (3) "Airport<, and the term "airport> hazard area"
1-19 means any area of land or water upon which an airport hazard might
1-20 be established if not prevented as provided in this Act.
1-21 (4) "Populous home-rule municipality" means a
1-22 home-rule municipality with a population of more than 400,000,
1-23 according to the most recent federal census.
1-24 (a-1) Authorization. All powers, privileges, and authority
2-1 granted to any municipality by this Act may be exercised and
2-2 enjoyed jointly with any public agency of any other State or of the
2-3 United States to the extent that the laws of such other State or of
2-4 the United States permit such joint exercise or enjoyment. If not
2-5 otherwise authorized by law, any agency of the State government
2-6 when acting jointly with any municipality, may exercise and enjoy
2-7 all of the powers, privileges, and authority conferred by this Act
2-8 upon a municipality.
2-9 (c) Joint Board. Public agencies acting jointly pursuant to
2-10 this Section shall create a joint board which shall consist of
2-11 members appointed by the governing body of each participating
2-12 public agency. The number to be appointed, their term and
2-13 compensation, if any, shall be provided for in the joint agreement.
2-14 Each such joint board shall organize, select officers for terms to
2-15 be fixed by the agreement, and adopt and amend from time to time
2-16 rules for its own procedure. The joint board shall have power to
2-17 plan, acquire, establish, develop, construct, enlarge, improve,
2-18 maintain, equip, operate, regulate, protect, and police any
2-19 airport, air navigation facility, or airport hazard area to be
2-20 jointly acquired, controlled, and operated. The joint board also
2-21 may realign, alter, acquire, abandon, or close portions of roads,
2-22 streets, boulevards, avenues, and alleyways, without a showing of
2-23 paramount importance, if the portions to be realigned, altered,
2-24 acquired, abandoned, or closed are within the geographic boundaries
2-25 of the airport at the time of, or following, the realignment,
2-26 alteration, acquisition, abandonment, or closing. Any taking of
2-27 rights-of-way that occurs in the exercise of this power shall be
3-1 compensated at fair market value. If the constituent public
3-2 agencies of a joint board are populous home-rule municipalities,
3-3 these powers are exclusively the powers of the board regardless of
3-4 whether all or part of the airport, air navigation facility, or
3-5 airport hazard area is located within or outside the territorial
3-6 limits of any of the constituent public agencies, and another
3-7 municipality, county, or other political subdivision shall not
3-8 enact or enforce a zoning ordinance, subdivision regulation,
3-9 construction code, or any other ordinance purporting to regulate
3-10 the use or development of property applicable within the geographic
3-11 boundaries of the airport as it may be expanded. A joint<, and
3-12 such> board may exercise on behalf of its constituent public
3-13 agencies all the powers of each with respect to such airport, air
3-14 navigation facility, or airport hazard area, subject to the
3-15 limitations of Subsection (d) of this Section.
3-16 (c-1) After March 1, 1993, a joint board, for which the
3-17 constituent public agencies are populous home-rule municipalities,
3-18 shall not acquire in fee simple property within a municipality for
3-19 the purpose of enlarging an airport operated by the joint board,
3-20 including property acquired in fee simple for the runway protection
3-21 zone and for the purpose of mitigating the effects of additional
3-22 airport noise caused by the enlargement of the airport, in more
3-23 than an aggregate of 10 percent of that portion of the land area of
3-24 the airport that lies within the geographic boundaries of the
3-25 municipality, unless the joint board has the consent of that
3-26 municipality. Any property that is acquired in fee simple for the
3-27 purpose of mitigating the effects of additional airport noise
4-1 caused by the enlargement of the airport and is resold shall not be
4-2 included as part of this 10 percent limit. Any property, real or
4-3 otherwise, acquired for the purposes set out in this subsection may
4-4 be acquired by populous home-rule municipalities under Subsection
4-5 (d)(3) of this section or Chapter 21, Property Code, except that
4-6 the consent of the municipality in which the property is located
4-7 shall be required for any acquisition in excess of the 10 percent
4-8 limit set forth in this subsection.
4-9 (c-2) Prohibitions and Agreements. (1) This subsection
4-10 applies only to a joint board for which the constituent public
4-11 agencies are populous home-rule municipalities.
4-12 (2) The joint board may not construct in a prohibited
4-13 area:
4-14 (A) a sewer and wastewater treatment plant;
4-15 (B) an above-ground aviation fuel storage
4-16 facility, not including pipelines for transporting fuel;
4-17 (C) a sanitary landfill site;
4-18 (D) a hazardous-waste disposal site; or
4-19 (E) a facility designed primarily for aircraft
4-20 engine testing.
4-21 (3) An area is a prohibited area for the purposes of
4-22 the prohibitions described by Subdivisions (2)(A) through (D) of
4-23 this subsection if the area is within 1,000 feet of any part of the
4-24 boundary of the airport operated by the joint board as the boundary
4-25 existed on the date the airport began operations, except that if
4-26 after that date the boundary is expanded under Subsection (c-1) of
4-27 this section to include contiguous property, then within 1,000 feet
5-1 of any part of the boundary of the airport after that expansion.
5-2 An area is a prohibited area for the purposes of the prohibition
5-3 described by Subdivision (2)(E) of this subsection if the area is
5-4 within 500 feet of any part of the boundary of the airport as the
5-5 boundary existed on the date the airport began operations, except
5-6 that if after that date the boundary is expanded under Subsection
5-7 (c-1) of this section by more than 500 feet to include contiguous
5-8 property, then within 1,000 feet of any part of the boundary of the
5-9 airport after that expansion.
5-10 (4) A prohibition under Subdivision (2) of this
5-11 subsection does not apply to the construction of:
5-12 (A) a facility or site for which the joint board
5-13 receives, before beginning construction, the approval of the
5-14 municipality in which the facility or site is to be located; or
5-15 (B) a deicing facility.
5-16 (5) The construction of a deicing facility by the
5-17 joint board does not require the approval of the municipality in
5-18 which the facility is to be located.
5-19 (6) The joint board may make intergovernmental
5-20 agreements with political subdivisions of the state.
5-21 (c-3) Treatment of Hazardous Waste Prohibited. The joint
5-22 board may not construct a facility to treat hazardous waste, as
5-23 defined by Section 361.003, Health and Safety Code, in an area that
5-24 the joint board acquires and that is subject to the limitation
5-25 prescribed by Subsection (c-1) of this section without first
5-26 obtaining the permission of the municipality in which the facility
5-27 is to be located. This provision does not prohibit any process or
6-1 other activity related to the deicing of aircraft, transportation
6-2 or storage of fuel, or cleanup or remediation of a spill or leak.
6-3 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
6-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-9 passage, and it is so enacted.