By:  Patterson                                         S.B. No. 999
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the prevention and mitigation of coastal erosion.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Section 33.602, Natural Resources Code, is
    1-4  amended by adding Subsections (c) through (e) to read as follows:
    1-5        (c)  The commissioner shall request the use of beach quality
    1-6  sand dredged in constructing and maintaining navigation inlets and
    1-7  channels for placement on coastal beaches in coordination with the
    1-8  secretary of the United States Army.
    1-9        (d)  The commissioner shall request the secretary of the
   1-10  United States Army to implement structural and nonstructural
   1-11  measures to prevent or mitigate shore damage attributable to
   1-12  federal navigation works.  The land office shall coordinate the
   1-13  requests with local governments that agree to operate or maintain
   1-14  the prevention or mitigation measures.
   1-15        (e)  Material excavated or dredged from the beds of
   1-16  navigation channels of the state may not be removed permanently
   1-17  from the active near shore, beach, or inlet shoal system unless the
   1-18  commissioner determines that no practical alternative exists.  The
   1-19  commissioner by rule shall provide that available and appropriate
   1-20  dredged materials shall be used to prevent or mitigate coastal
   1-21  erosion, if practicable.  The commissioner shall request the
   1-22  disposal of dredged materials on beaches of the Gulf of Mexico
   1-23  proximate to the dredging operation or in shallow active near shore
   1-24  areas if the disposal is:
    2-1              (1)  environmentally acceptable, considering
    2-2  contamination of sands or waters and marine life; and
    2-3              (2)  compatible with other uses of the beach.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  Subchapter H, Chapter 33, Natural Resources Code,
    2-5  is amended by adding Section 33.605 to read as follows:
    2-6        Sec. 33.605.  BEACH NOURISHMENT MATERIAL SOURCES DATA AND
    2-7  RESEARCH.  The land office, in cooperation with coastal counties,
    2-8  the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and The University of
    2-9  Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, shall:
   2-10              (1)  collect, store, and make available information on
   2-11  known sources of material suitable for beach nourishment; and
   2-12              (2)  identify necessary research on the beneficial uses
   2-13  of material dredged in navigation channel projects, including:
   2-14                    (A)  placement on eroded or eroding beaches;
   2-15                    (B)  near shore dumping by split hull dredges;
   2-16                    (C)  building dunes; and
   2-17                    (D)  methods of disposing of dredged materials so
   2-18  that the material is accessible for beneficial use.
   2-19        SECTION 3.  The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall
   2-20  adopt rules as provided by Subsections (c) through (e), Section
   2-21  33.602, Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, not later
   2-22  than September 30, 1993.
   2-23        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-25  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-26  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-27  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-1  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-2  passage, and it is so enacted.