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.