By: Brown S.B. No. 1041
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the beneficial use of material dredged from the Gulf
1-2 Intracoastal Waterway.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 4, Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
1-5 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-6 follows:
1-7 Sec. 4. As used in this chapter:
1-8 (a) "Beneficial use" means all productive and positive use
1-9 of dredged material, which covers broad use categories ranging from
1-10 fish and wildlife habitat development, to human recreation, to
1-11 industrial and commercial uses.
1-12 (b) <(a)> "Coastal public lands" means all or any portion of
1-13 the state-owned submerged land, the waters overlying those lands,
1-14 and all state-owned islands or portions of islands that may be
1-15 affected by the ebb and flow of the tide.
1-16 (c) <(b)> "Coastal marshes and similar areas" means those
1-17 soft, low-lying watery or wet lands and drainage areas in the
1-18 coastal areas of the state which may or may not be subject to the
1-19 ebb and flow of the tide but which are of ecological significance
1-20 to the environment and to the maintenance, preservation, and
1-21 enhancement of wildlife and fisheries.
1-22 (d) <(c)> "Commission" means the Texas Transportation <State
1-23 Highway> Commission.
2-1 (e) <(d)> "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" means the main
2-2 channel, not including tributaries or branches, of the shallow
2-3 draft navigation channel running from the Sabine River southward
2-4 along the Texas coast to the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port
2-5 Isabel that is generally referred to as the Gulf Intracoastal
2-6 Canal.
2-7 (f) <(e)> "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership,
2-8 association, corporation (public or private, profit or nonprofit),
2-9 trust, or political subdivision or agency of the state.
2-10 SECTION 2. Section 6, Coastal Waterway Act of 1975 (Article
2-11 5415e-2, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding
2-12 Subsection (c-1) and amending Subsection (g) to read as follows:
2-13 (c-1) Subject to funding limitations, the commission may,
2-14 through the Texas Department of Transportation, enter into
2-15 agreements with the Department of the Army for the participation in
2-16 the cost of projects providing for the beneficial use of dredged
2-17 material from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The commission shall
2-18 adopt rules establishing eligibility criteria for beneficial use
2-19 projects.
2-20 (g) Prior to approval or implementation by the commission of
2-21 any plan or project for acquisition or acquisition of any property
2-22 or interest in property for any dredge material disposal site, or
2-23 for the widening, relocation, or alteration of the main channel of
2-24 the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which requires the acquisition of
2-25 any additional property or interest in property, to satisfy federal
3-1 local sponsor requirements, or for any beneficial use project which
3-2 requires the acquisition of any property or interest in property,
3-3 the commission shall hold public hearings for the purpose of
3-4 receiving evidence and testimony concerning the desirability of
3-5 such proposed dredge material disposal site and of any such
3-6 widening, relocation, or alteration of the main channel of the Gulf
3-7 Intracoastal Waterway, or of such beneficial use project, prior to
3-8 which hearing the commission shall publish notice of such plan,
3-9 project, and hearing, at least once a week for three successive
3-10 weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county
3-11 seat of each county in which any such proposed dredge material
3-12 disposal site or part thereof is located and in which the channel
3-13 or any portion of the channel of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to
3-14 be widened, relocated, or altered is located, or in which such
3-15 beneficial use project is located, of the date, time, and place of
3-16 such hearing. If after such public hearing the commission shall
3-17 determine that such proposed dredge material site plan or project
3-18 or such proposed plan or project for widening, relocation, or
3-19 alteration of the main channel of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway,
3-20 or beneficial use project, as the case may be, can be accomplished
3-21 without unjustifiable waste of publicly or privately owned natural
3-22 resources and without permanent substantial adverse impact on the
3-23 environment, wildlife, or fisheries, the commission may then, upon
3-24 its approval of such plan or project, proceed to implement such
3-25 plan or project and acquire, in such manner as is provided in
4-1 Section 6(c) of this Act, any such additional property or interest
4-2 in property necessary for such beneficial use project, or to
4-3 satisfy federal local sponsorship requirements for implementation
4-4 of such plans for such dredge material site or for such widening,
4-5 relocation, or alteration of the main channel of the Gulf
4-6 Intracoastal Waterway.
4-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-13 passage, and it is so enacted.