By Lewis of Orange, et al.                            H.B. No. 1536
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the beneficial use of material dredged from the Gulf
    1-3  Intracoastal Waterway.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 4, Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975
    1-6  (Article 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
    1-7  amending Subsections (c)-(e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
    1-8  follows:
    1-9        (c)  "Commission" means the Texas Transportation <State
   1-10  Highway> Commission.
   1-11        (d)  "Department" means the Texas Department of
   1-12  Transportation.
   1-13        (e)  "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" means the main channel, not
   1-14  including tributaries or branches, of the shallow draft navigation
   1-15  channel running from the Sabine River southward along the Texas
   1-16  coast to the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port Isabel that is
   1-17  generally referred to as the Gulf Intracoastal Canal.
   1-18        (f) <(e)>  "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership,
   1-19  association, corporation (public or private, profit or nonprofit),
   1-20  trust, or political subdivision or agency of the state.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  Section 5(a), Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975
   1-22  (Article 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
   1-23  read as follows:
    2-1        (a)  This Act shall be administered by the Texas
    2-2  Transportation <State Highway> Commission.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  The Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
    2-4  5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by adding
    2-5  Section 6A to read as follows:
    2-6        Sec. 6A.  BENEFICIAL USE OF DREDGE MATERIAL.  (a)  The
    2-7  commission, through the department, may enter into an agreement
    2-8  with the Department of the Army to participate in the cost of a
    2-9  project to beneficially use material dredged from the Gulf
   2-10  Intracoastal Waterway.
   2-11        (b)  The commission by rule shall establish eligibility
   2-12  criteria for beneficial-use projects.  Beneficial use of dredge
   2-13  material means any productive and positive use of dredge material
   2-14  and covers broad use categories ranging from fish and wildlife
   2-15  habitat development to human recreation and industrial and
   2-16  commercial uses.
   2-17        (c)  The commission, through the department, may acquire an
   2-18  interest in property required for a project to beneficially use
   2-19  dredge material in the manner provided by Section 6(c) of this Act.
   2-20        (d)  Before the department agrees to participate in the cost
   2-21  of a project to beneficially use dredge material that requires the
   2-22  acquisition of an interest in property, the commission shall hold a
   2-23  public hearing on the desirability of the project.  Before holding
   2-24  the hearing, the commission shall publish notice of the date, time,
   2-25  and place of the hearing at least once a week for three successive
    3-1  weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county
    3-2  seat of each county in which the project is located.  If after the
    3-3  hearing the commission determines that the project can be
    3-4  accomplished without unjustifiable waste of publicly or privately
    3-5  owned natural resources and without permanent substantial adverse
    3-6  impact on the environment, wildlife, or fisheries, the department
    3-7  may agree to participate in the cost of the project.
    3-8        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-14  passage, and it is so enacted.