By Patterson, Ramsay                                  H.B. No. 2077
       74R7377 JD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the abandonment of the line of a railroad located in
    1-3  this state.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Title 112, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
    1-6  Article 6350a to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 6350a.  NOTICE OF INTENT TO ABANDON LINE OF RAILROAD.
    1-8  (a)  Before a railroad may apply to the United States for
    1-9  permission to abandon any portion of its line of railroad within
   1-10  this state, the railroad must provide written notice of its
   1-11  proposed application to the Railroad Commission of Texas, the
   1-12  commissioners court of each county in which any portion of the line
   1-13  of railroad to be abandoned is located, and the governing body of
   1-14  each municipality in which any portion of that line is located.
   1-15        (b)  Notice under this article shall be sent by certified
   1-16  mail, with return receipt requested, to the Railroad Commission of
   1-17  Texas and to each commissioners court and governing body not later
   1-18  than the 60th day before the date the railroad files its
   1-19  application with the United States.
   1-20        (c)  This article is cumulative of all other laws of this
   1-21  state, including Articles 6349 and 6350 of this title.
   1-22        (d)  The Railroad Commission of Texas shall adopt rules to
   1-23  enforce this article.
   1-24        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-1        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.