CPC S.B. 1050 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS


LAND & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
S.B. 1050
By: Truan (Bosse)
5-14-97
Committee Report (Unamended)


BACKGROUND 

In a 1993 case Natland Corp. v. Baker's Port Inc., the Third Court of
Appeals held that the State of Texas lost title to 36 acres of Permanent
School Fund land after the U.S. Corps of Engineers deposited dredge spoil
material on beach front property and it subsequently migrated into the
bay, creating emergent land.  Since that time, many landowners seeking to
change the character of land from public to private has cited the Natland
opinion as broad authority for the proposition that, unless the
complainant used self-help, the complainant is entitled to claim emergent
or accredit land resulting from artificial activity.  This bill will set
forth provisions relating to artificial processes and the affect on
ownership of coastal public land. 

PURPOSE

S.B. 1050  sets forth provisions relating to artificial processes and the
effect on ownership of coastal public land. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or
institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 33D, Natural Resources Code, by adding Section
33.136, as follows: 

 Sec.  33.136.  PROPERTY RIGHTS: PRESERVATION OF LITTORAL RIGHTS.  

 (a) Prohibits a person, notwithstanding any law to the contrary, from
undertaking, within the coastal zone, an action relating to erosion
response that will cause or contribute to shoreline alteration  before the
person has conducted and filed a coastal boundary survey in the same
manner as the survey of public land required by Chapter 21 and any
applicable rule of the  commissioner of the School Land Board
(commissioner).  Provides that, on filing of the survey, the shoreline
depicted on the survey is a fixed line for the purpose of locating a
shoreline boundary, subject to erosion landward of that line.  Prohibits a
coastal boundary survey conducted under this section from being filed
until the commissioner gives notice of approval under Subsection (c). 

(b) Requires the survey to contain a statement containing certain
information. 

 (c) Requires the commissioner, within 30 days after the date the
commissioner approves a coastal boundary survey fixing the location of the
shoreline under this section, to provide notice of the commissioner's
actions by taking certain actions. 

 (d) Requires a person who claims title to land as a result of accretion,
reliction, or avulsion within the coastal zone in an area where the
shoreline was or may have been changed by an action relating to erosion
response to prove certain facts in order to prevail in the claim. 

 (e) Provides that an upland owner who, because of erosion activity
undertaken by the commissioner, ceases to hold title to certain land is
entitled to continue to exercise all littoral rights possessed by that
owner before the date the erosion response activity commenced, including
certain  rights. 

 (f) Defines "erosion response." 

SECTION 2. Effective Date: September 1, 1997.
  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3. Emergency Clause.