LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 24, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Robert M. Saunders, Chair    IN RE:  House Bill No. 396
         Committee on Land and Resource                 By: Turner, Bob
         Management
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas







FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
396 (Relating to prohibiting certain entities from condemning
property in certain circumstances.) this office has determined
the following:

The bill would prohibit the state from using eminent domain
authority to condemn property for the purpose of offsetting the
adverse effect of land use in environmentally sensitive areas as
required by the federal government (i.e., environmental
mitigation).

The bill would require the Texas Department of Transportation
(TDOT) to avoid properties needed for environmental mitigation
purposes in highway construction projects. Because the TDOT will
not know whether it is prohibited from using its powers of
eminent domain to acquire properties needed for environmental
mitigation purposes until the time that an offer to acquire
property is made and a property owner chooses not to sell, the
possibility exists that a given highway project would
subsequently need to be reconsidered in its entirety in order to
comply with the provisions of the bill.

Based on the number of recent highway construction projects
involving the use of eminent domain for the purpose of meeting
environmental mitigation requirements, the TDOT estimates that it
will incur additional preliminary design costs of approximately
$2 million annually to avoid properties which would otherwise be
subject to condemnation for the purpose of environmental    




mitigation.

 The probable fiscal implication of implementing the provisions
of the bill during each of the first  five years following
passage is estimated as follows:



            Fiscal  Probable Cost Out 
             Year   of  State Highway 
                         Fund 006     
                                      
          1996              $2,025,000
          1997               2,025,000
                                      
          1998               2,025,000
                                      
          1999               2,025,000
          2000               2,025,000
                                      
                                      
                                      


Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as the
provisions of the bill are in effect.

The fiscal implication to  units of local government cannot be
determined.


Source:   Texas Department of Transportation, Natural Resource
Conservation Commission,
                         Parks and Wildlife Department
          LBB Staff: JK, JB, DF