1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the validation of all acts, governmental proceedings,

 1-3     officials, bonds, and obligations of navigation districts and port

 1-4     authorities.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  DEFINITION.  In this Act, "district" means a

 1-7     navigation district or a port authority created under Section 52,

 1-8     Article III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, or

 1-9     other public port authority.

1-10           SECTION 2.  VALIDATION.  The following are validated and

1-11     confirmed in all respects:

1-12                 (1)  all acts and governmental proceedings of a

1-13     district not excepted in this Act taken before March 1, 1997, are

1-14     validated as of the dates on which they occurred;

1-15                 (2)  all commissioners or other officials of a

1-16     district, whether elected or appointed,  who took office before the

1-17     effective date of this Act; and

1-18                 (3)  all bonds and other obligations of a district

1-19     authorized before the effective date of this Act, including all

1-20     proceedings taken before the effective date of this Act that are

1-21     related to those bonds or other obligations, regardless of whether

1-22     the bonds or obligations are:

1-23                       (A)  payable from tax revenue or otherwise; or

1-24                       (B)  issued on or before the effective date of

 2-1     this Act.

 2-2           SECTION 3.  APPLICABILITY.  Section 2 of this Act does not

 2-3     apply to:

 2-4                 (1)  an act, proceeding, commissioner or official,

 2-5     bond, or obligation the validity of which or of whom is the subject

 2-6     of litigation that is pending on the effective date of this Act;

 2-7                 (2)  an act or proceeding relating to the conveyance by

 2-8     a district of any interest in real property that had originally

 2-9     been patented or otherwise conveyed to the district by the state if

2-10     such act or proceeding by the district violated any restriction or

2-11     condition of the patent or other conveyance from the state; or

2-12                 (3)  an act or proceeding that violated Section 61.117,

2-13     Water Code.  This Act does not validate any governmental acts or

2-14     proceedings which, under the statutes of this state at the time the

2-15     actions or proceedings occurred, were a misdemeanor or a felony.

2-16           SECTION 4.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation

2-17     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-21     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-22     passage, and it is so enacted.

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1254 was passed by the House on April

         25, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 145, Nays 0, 3 present, not

         voting.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1254 was passed by the Senate on May

         19, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

         APPROVED:  _____________________

                            Date

                    _____________________

                          Governor