1-1 By: Lewis of Orange, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Brown) H.B. No. 1536
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 1995;
1-3 May 5, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
1-4 Resources; May 17, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 17, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the beneficial use of material dredged from the Gulf
1-9 Intracoastal Waterway.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 4, Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975
1-12 (Article 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
1-13 amending Subsections (c)-(e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 (c) "Commission" means the Texas Transportation <State
1-16 Highway> Commission.
1-17 (d) "Department" means the Texas Department of
1-18 Transportation.
1-19 (e) "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" means the main channel, not
1-20 including tributaries or branches, of the shallow draft navigation
1-21 channel running from the Sabine River southward along the Texas
1-22 coast to the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port Isabel that is
1-23 generally referred to as the Gulf Intracoastal Canal.
1-24 (f) <(e)> "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership,
1-25 association, corporation (public or private, profit or nonprofit),
1-26 trust, or political subdivision or agency of the state.
1-27 SECTION 2. Section 5(a), Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975
1-28 (Article 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
1-29 read as follows:
1-30 (a) This Act shall be administered by the Texas
1-31 Transportation <State Highway> Commission.
1-32 SECTION 3. The Texas Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
1-33 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is amended by adding
1-34 Section 6A to read as follows:
1-35 Sec. 6A. BENEFICIAL USE OF DREDGE MATERIAL. (a) The
1-36 commission, through the department, may enter into an agreement
1-37 with the Department of the Army to participate in the cost of a
1-38 project to beneficially use material dredged from the Gulf
1-39 Intracoastal Waterway.
1-40 (b) The commission by rule shall establish eligibility
1-41 criteria for beneficial-use projects. Beneficial use of dredge
1-42 material means any productive and positive use of dredge material
1-43 and covers broad use categories ranging from fish and wildlife
1-44 habitat development to human recreation and industrial and
1-45 commercial uses.
1-46 (c) The commission, through the department, may acquire an
1-47 interest in property required for a project to beneficially use
1-48 dredge material in the manner provided by Section 6(c) of this Act.
1-49 (d) Before the department agrees to participate in the cost
1-50 of a project to beneficially use dredge material that requires the
1-51 acquisition of an interest in property, the commission shall hold a
1-52 public hearing on the desirability of the project. Before holding
1-53 the hearing, the commission shall publish notice of the date, time,
1-54 and place of the hearing at least once a week for three successive
1-55 weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county
1-56 seat of each county in which the project is located. If after the
1-57 hearing the commission determines that the project can be
1-58 accomplished without unjustifiable waste of publicly or privately
1-59 owned natural resources and without permanent substantial adverse
1-60 impact on the environment, wildlife, or fisheries, the department
1-61 may agree to participate in the cost of the project.
1-62 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-63 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-64 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-65 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-66 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-67 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-68 passage, and it is so enacted.
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