CPC C.S.H.B. 3082 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS LAND & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT C.S.H.B. 3082 By: Gray 5-2-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND According to a study by the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, 70% of Texas' coast is eroding at a rate of 5 to 60 feet per year. Most of the erosion occurs within developed coastline. Texas does not presently have a shoreline stabilization response plan/program, and local authorities are left to their own financial devices to cope with their erosion problems. Federal participation is extremely rare because Texas lacks an integrated plan. PURPOSE CSHB 3082 is intended to bring state resources to bear on coastal erosion problems, whose management has proven to be beyond the capacity of landowners and many local governments. The bill creates a coastal erosion response fund to be administered by the Texas General Land Office. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly grants additional rulemaking authority to the General Land Office and the Commissioner of the GLO in Sec. 33.603(b). This section authorizes the commissioner to promulgate rules for erosion response within the coastal zone. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. REPEALER. Repeals Subchapter H, Chapter 33, Natural Resource Code, which establishes the General Land Office's current and limited erosion planning authority. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 33, Natural Resources Code, by adding Subchapter H, as follows: Sec. 33.601. SHORT TITLE. "Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act." Sec. 33.602. DEFINITIONS. Sec. 33.603. COASTAL EROSION PLANNING AND RESPONSE AUTHORITY. (a) Authorizes the land commissioner to design and construct erosion response projects. (b) Authorizes the commissioner to promulgate rules governing erosion response projects. (c) Authorizes the commissioner to issue grants from the fund to local governments to carry out erosion response projects. (d) Authorizes the commissioner to enter property as necessary to conduct shoreline surveys required by the bill. (e) Directs the commissioner to develop a public education program on erosion problems. (f) Preserves the rights of littoral land owners, ensuring landowner's rights of ingress and egress after projects are constructed. Sec. 33.604. CREATION OF COASTAL EROSION RESPONSE FUND. Creates the coastal erosion response fund to be used by commissioner. The funds are to come from legislative appropriations and any other state, federal, and local government funds made available. Sec. 33.605. ELIGIBLE USES OF THE FUND. Sec. 33.606. REPORT TO LEGISLATURE. Requires the commissioner to report to the legislature at least once a biennium on the statutes of the projects and the fund and to estimate funding needed to carry out purposes of the act in the next biennium. Sec. 33.607. GRANTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. (a) Authorizes local governments to apply for erosion response project grants; sets out information local governments must include in the grant application. (b) Authorizes local governments to use erosion response front monies to match in seeking other funds. (c) Authorizes the commissioner to establish cost sharing arrangements with local governments. Sec. 33.608. GRANT APPROVAL. Authorizes the commissioner to approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve grant applications. Requires the commissioner to make certain determinations and findings in approving a grant. Sec. 33.609. SURVEY REQUIREMENT. (a) Requires that a "coastal boundary survey" be conducted and that all leases, easements, or other instruments be obtained prior to undertaking any project. Once established, the surveyed boundary is fixed for the purposes of determining the shoreline boundary. (b) Requires that a statement be included in the survey explaining the purpose of the surveyed boundary. (c) Requires the commissioner to publish in the Texas Register and local newspapers the final decision approving the boundary survey and requires a copy of the survey to be recorded in the Archives and Records Division of the General Land Office. Sec. 33.610. LANDOWNER CONSENT. (a) If the project is on private property, requires that the consent of a private landowner be obtained prior to undertaking any project on those lands; in the case of PSF lands, requires the consent of the School Land Board prior to undertaking any project on those lands. (b) Upon the consent of the landowner, the commissioner may enter lands to undertake an erosion response project. (c) Specifies that no consent is required for undertaking a project on the public beach. Sec. 33.611. IMMUNITY. The state, the commissioner, and land office staff are immune from suit and from liability for any act or omission relating to several provisions set forth. Sec. 33.612. JUDICIAL REVIEW. Sec. 33.613. PROOF OF CLAIM. A person who claims title to permanent school fund land as a result of accretion, relocation, or avulsion in the coastal zone after September 1, 1997, in order to prevail in the claim, must prove requirements set forth that must be met. Sec. 33.614. CORRECTION OF TAX ROLLS. (a) The owner of the land that has become submerged because of erosion may request the commissioner's assistance under this section in removing the property from the tax rolls by submitting to the commissioner requests set forth in this subsection. (b) On receipt of this information required under Subsection (a), the commissioner shall inform the local appraisal district and identified taxing entities that the property listed on local tax rolls and the subject of the request under Subsection (a) is owned by the permanent school fund because of erosion. (c) On receipt of notice from the commissioner the district or taxing entity shall remove the property form the tax rolls. SECTION 2. (a) Emergency Clause: September 1, 1997. (b) Sec. 33.609 and 33.610, Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, apply only to erosion response activity undertaken on or after September 1, 1997. (c) Sec. 33.611, Natural Resources Code, as added by this Act, Applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after September 1, 1997. A cause of action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law as it existed immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE CSHB 3082 contains drafting differences because it was produced by the Legislative Council. The original legislation was not a council draft. CSHB 3082 changes the caption in Sec. 33.611 to "Immunity." The original legislation did contain the same caption. CSHB 3082 contains an Emergency Clause. The original legislation did not contain this provision.