74R6926 SMH-F
By Lewis of Orange, et al. H.B. No. 1536
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1536:
By Bosse C.S.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 beneficially use material
2-8 dredged from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The commission by
2-9 rule shall establish eligibility criteria for the beneficial use of
2-10 dredge material. The use of dredge material for development of
2-11 fish and wildlife habitat or for a recreational, industrial, or
2-12 commercial purpose is a beneficial use.
2-13 (b) The commission, through the department, may enter into
2-14 an agreement with the United States Department of the Army to share
2-15 the cost of a project to beneficially use dredge material.
2-16 (c) The commission, through the department, may acquire an
2-17 interest in property required for a project to beneficially use
2-18 dredge material in the manner provided by Section 6(c) of this Act.
2-19 (d) Before the department undertakes a project to
2-20 beneficially use dredge material that requires the acquisition of
2-21 an interest in property, the commission shall hold a public hearing
2-22 on the desirability of the project. Before holding the hearing,
2-23 the commission shall publish notice of the date, time, and place of
2-24 the hearing at least once a week for three successive weeks in a
2-25 newspaper of general circulation published in the county seat of
3-1 each county in which the project is located. If after the hearing
3-2 the commission determines that the project can be accomplished
3-3 without unjustifiable waste of publicly or privately owned natural
3-4 resources and without permanent substantial adverse impact on the
3-5 environment, wildlife, or fisheries, the department may undertake
3-6 the project.
3-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-13 passage, and it is so enacted.