Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

      Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

      By Averitt                                       H.B. No. 763

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to prohibiting the licensing or operation of a rock quarry

 1-3     near Fort Parker State Park.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 13, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended

 1-6     by adding Subchapter E to read as follows:

 1-7           SUBCHAPTER E.  ACTIVITIES PROHIBITED IN AREAS ADJACENT

 1-8                               TO STATE PARKS

 1-9           Sec. 13.401.  PROHIBITION OF LICENSING OR OPERATION OF ROCK

1-10     QUARRY NEAR FORT PARKER STATE PARK.  (a)  No governmental entity

1-11     may issue a permit or other approval for the operation of a rock

1-12     quarry adjacent to or in the vicinity of Fort Parker State Park.

1-13           (b)  No person may operate a rock quarry adjacent to or in

1-14     the vicinity of Fort Parker State Park.

1-15           (c)  The commission by rule may determine the circumstances

1-16     in which a rock quarry is considered to be adjacent to or in the

1-17     vicinity of Fort Parker State Park.  Prior to the adoption of such

1-18     rules, there shall be a presumption that a rock quarry is in the

1-19     vicinity of Fort Parker State Park if any part of the rock quarry

1-20     is within one-mile of the boundary of the Park.  In adopting rules,

1-21     the commission shall consider the minimum distance needed to avoid

1-22     adverse impacts on Park operations and facilities, including the

1-23     Navasota River.

1-24           (d)  The attorney general, at the request of the director,

 2-1     shall bring suit to enjoin a violation or a threatened violation of

 2-2     Subsection (b).  A suit under this section may be brought in the

 2-3     county in which the violation occurred or threatens to occur, the

 2-4     county in which the defendant resides, or Travis County.

 2-5           (e)  In this section, "rock quarry" means an open pit or

 2-6     excavation from which building stone, slate, limestone, or a

 2-7     similar material is extracted by blasting, cutting, or some other

 2-8     method and includes operations such as rock crushing and sorting

 2-9     undertaken in connection with such an open pit or excavation.

2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to an application for a

2-11     permit or other approval for the operation of a rock quarry that

2-12     is:

2-13                 (1)  pending before a governmental entity on the

2-14     effective date of this Act; or

2-15                 (2)  filed with a governmental entity on or after the

2-16     effective date of this Act.

2-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-23     passage, and it is so enacted.