By:  Truan                                            S.B. No. 1688
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the establishment of the line of vegetation along the
    1-2  Gulf of Mexico where a natural vegetation line does not exist.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 61.016, Natural Resources Code, amended
    1-5  by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (d)  In an area of public beach where a seawall structure
    1-7  constructed before 1970 and continuously maintained with a height
    1-8  of not less than 11 feet above mean low tide interrupts the natural
    1-9  line of vegetation for a distance not greater than 4,500 feet, the
   1-10  line of vegetation is along the seaward side of the seawall for the
   1-11  distance marked by the seawall; provided that prior to September 1,
   1-12  1997:
   1-13              (1)  a perpetual easement has been granted in favor of
   1-14  the public affording pedestrian, non-commercial use along and over
   1-15  the entire length of the seawall and adjacent sidewalk by the
   1-16  general public;
   1-17              (2)  an area for public parking and other public uses
   1-18  adjacent to the seawall has been conveyed to and accepted by a
   1-19  public entity which contains sufficient acreage to provide at least
   1-20  one parking space for each fifteen lineal feet of the seawall, is
   1-21  located within the center one-third of the length of the seawall,
   1-22  and has frontage on the seawall for at least 300 lineal feet; and
   1-23              (3)  permanent roadway easements exist within one
    2-1  thousand feet of each end of the seawall affording vehicular access
    2-2  from the nearest public road to the beach.
    2-3  A line of vegetation established as described in this subsection
    2-4  shall be the landward boundary of the public beach and of the
    2-5  public easement for all purposes until such time as natural
    2-6  accretion or restoration occurs and establishes a line more seaward
    2-7  than the seawall artificial line.  Fee title to all submerged land
    2-8  as described in the Natural Resources Code shall remain in the
    2-9  State of Texas.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by Section 61.016(d),
   2-11  Natural Resources Code, establishes the landward boundary of the
   2-12  public beach and of the public easement in any instance in which
   2-13  the circumstances described in Section 61.016(d), including the
   2-14  dedication of the public easement and the conveyance of the public
   2-15  parking and use area, are in existence prior to September 1, 1997.
   2-16  Any court judgment in effect prior to the date of passage of this
   2-17  legislation regarding circumstances described in Section 61.016(d)
   2-18  is modified by that section to the extent that the judgment is in
   2-19  conflict with that section.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  This act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-21        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-25  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.