By Lewis of Orange 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, Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
1-6 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 Sec. 4. As used in this chapter:
1-9 (a) "Beneficial use" means all productive and positive use
1-10 of dredged material, which covers broad use categories ranging from
1-11 fish and wildlife habitat development, to human recreation, to
1-12 industrial and commercial uses.
1-13 (b) <(a)> "Coastal public lands" means all or any portion of
1-14 the state-owned submerged land, the waters overlying those lands,
1-15 and all state-owned islands or portions of islands that may be
1-16 affected by the ebb and flow of the tide.
1-17 (c) <(b)> "Coastal marshes and similar areas" means those
1-18 soft, low-lying watery or wet lands and drainage areas in the
1-19 coastal areas of the state which may or may not be subject to the
1-20 ebb and flow of the tide but which are of ecological significance
1-21 to the environment and to the maintenance, preservation, and
1-22 enhancement of wildlife and fisheries.
1-23 (d) <(c)> "Commission" means the Texas Transportation <State
2-1 Highway> Commission.
2-2 (e) <(d)> "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" means the main
2-3 channel, not including tributaries or branches, of the shallow
2-4 draft navigation channel running from the Sabine River southward
2-5 along the Texas coast to the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port
2-6 Isabel that is generally referred to as the Gulf Intracoastal
2-7 Canal.
2-8 (f) <(e)> "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership,
2-9 association, corporation (public or private, profit or nonprofit),
2-10 trust, or political subdivision or agency of the state.
2-11 SECTION 2. Section 6, Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
2-12 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding
2-13 Subsection (c-1) and amending Subsection (g) to read as follows:
2-14 (c-1) Subject to finding limitations, the commission may,
2-15 through the Texas Department of Transportation, enter into
2-16 agreements with the Department of the Army for the participation in
2-17 the cost of projects providing for the beneficial use of dredged
2-18 material from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The commission shall
2-19 adopt rules establishing eligibility criteria for beneficial use
2-20 projects.
2-21 (g) Prior to approval or implementation by the commission of
2-22 any plan or project for acquisition or acquisition of any property
2-23 or interest in property for any dredge material disposal site, or
2-24 for the widening, relocation, or alteration of the main channel of
2-25 the Gulf Intracostal Waterway which requires the acquisition of any
3-1 additional property or interest in property, to satisfy federal
3-2 local sponsor requirements, or for any beneficial use project which
3-3 requires the acquisition of any property or interest in property,
3-4 the commission shall hold public hearings for the purpose of
3-5 receiving evidence and testimony concerning the desirability of
3-6 such proposed dredge material disposal site and of any such
3-7 widening, relocation, or alteration of the main channel of the Gulf
3-8 Intracostal Waterway, or of such beneficial use project, prior to
3-9 which hearing the commission shall publish notice of such plan,
3-10 project, and hearing, at least once a week for three successive
3-11 weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county
3-12 seat of each county in which any such proposed dredge material
3-13 disposal site or part thereof is located and in which the channel
3-14 or any portion of the channel of the Gulf Intracostal Waterway to
3-15 be widened, relocated, or altered is located, or in which such
3-16 beneficial use project is located, of the date, time, and place of
3-17 such hearing. If after such public hearing the commission shall
3-18 determine that such proposed dredge material site plan or project
3-19 or such proposed plan or project for widening, relocation, or
3-20 alteration of the main channel of the Gulf Intracostal Waterway, or
3-21 beneficial use project, as the case may be, can be accomplished
3-22 without unjustifiable waste of publicly or privately owned natural
3-23 resources and without permanent substantial adverse impact on the
3-24 environment, wildlife, or fisheries, the commission may then, upon
3-25 its approval of such plan or project, proceed to implement such
4-1 plan or project and acquire, in such manner as is provided in
4-2 Section 6(c) of this Act, any such additional property or interest
4-3 in property necessary for such beneficial use project, or to
4-4 satisfy federal local sponsorship requirements for implementation
4-5 of such plans for such dredge material site or for such widening,
4-6 relocation, or alteration of the main channel of the Gulf
4-7 Intracostal Waterway.
4-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-14 passage, and it is so enacted.