1-1  By:  Cain                                              S.B. No. 226
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed January 16, 1995; January 18, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
    1-4  March 21, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
    1-5  Nays 0; March 21, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to exempting certain property owners from certain
    1-9  requirements relating to abandoned or inactive pits.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 133.041, Natural
   1-12  Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-13        (b)  Except as provided by Section 133.055, a <A> person
   1-14  responsible for an abandoned or inactive pit must construct a
   1-15  barrier or other device required by this code between a public road
   1-16  adjoining the site and the pit, provided that the pit is in
   1-17  hazardous proximity to a public road and in an unacceptable unsafe
   1-18  location.  The commission may grant a waiver from the barrier
   1-19  requirement if the person responsible for the abandoned or inactive
   1-20  pit submits an application to the commission showing that:
   1-21              (1)  a governmental entity obtained a right-of-way and
   1-22  constructed a public road within 200 feet of the abandoned or
   1-23  inactive pit before August 26, 1991; and
   1-24              (2)  the pit has remained abandoned or inactive since
   1-25  the road was constructed.
   1-26        SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 133.045, Natural
   1-27  Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-28        (a)  Except as provided by Section 133.055, a <A> safety
   1-29  certificate is required for an active, inactive, or abandoned
   1-30  quarry or pit that is located in hazardous proximity to a public
   1-31  road or is in an unacceptable unsafe location, excluding an
   1-32  inactive or abandoned quarry or pit that receives a written waiver
   1-33  from the commission.
   1-34        SECTION 3.  Subchapter D, Chapter 133, Natural Resources
   1-35  Code, is amended by adding Section 133.055 to read as follows:
   1-36        Sec. 133.055.  EXEMPTION.  A person responsible for an
   1-37  abandoned or inactive pit is not required to construct a barrier or
   1-38  other device as required by Section 133.041 and is not required to
   1-39  obtain a safety certificate under Section 133.045 if:
   1-40              (1)  the person purchased or otherwise became
   1-41  responsible for the pit before August 26, 1991;
   1-42              (2)  the pit was abandoned or inactive when the person
   1-43  purchased or otherwise became responsible for the pit;
   1-44              (3)  the pit has not been active during any period in
   1-45  which the person has been responsible for the pit; and
   1-46              (4)  the person did not create the pit.
   1-47        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-48  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-49  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-50  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-51  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-52  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-53  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-54                               * * * * *