H.B. No. 1536
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.