By Kuempel                                      H.B. No. 1431

      75R5586 KKA-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to removing the authority of certain local governments to

 1-3     participate directly in regional habitat conservation plans;

 1-4     requiring the Parks and Wildlife Department to coordinate with

 1-5     governmental entities affected by the plan and to submit the plan

 1-6     to the legislature for review.

 1-7           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-8           SECTION 1.  Section 83.006, Parks and Wildlife Code, is

 1-9     amended to read as follows:

1-10           Sec. 83.006.  Regional Plans for Endangered Species

1-11     Protection.  (a)  The department [and any county or city within the

1-12     state] may participate in the study, preparation, and creation of a

1-13     regional habitat conservation plan, as specified by the United

1-14     States Fish and Wildlife Service (50 CFR Section 17.22), to be

1-15     submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for

1-16     approval.

1-17           (b)  Any regional plan designed to protect or manage an

1-18     "endangered species" as defined in 16 U.S.C. Section 1531 et seq.

1-19     must be developed in coordination with any other state agency or

1-20     local government that may be affected by the plan, including the

1-21     Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Texas Water

1-22     Development Board, Texas Department of Transportation, Texas

1-23     Department of Agriculture, General Land Office, Railroad Commission

1-24     of Texas, and Texas Department of Commerce.  A plan developed under

 2-1     this subsection must [shall] be submitted to the legislature [Parks

 2-2     and Wildlife Department] for review and comment before it is

 2-3     submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for

 2-4     approval.

 2-5           [(c)  In order to protect threatened and endangered species

 2-6     as defined in Section 3 of the federal Endangered Species Act of

 2-7     1973 and in Chapter 68, Parks and Wildlife Code, a city, both

 2-8     within its corporate limits and its extraterritorial jurisdiction,

 2-9     and a county may:]

2-10                 [(1)  participate in the development of a regional

2-11     habitat conservation plan as specified by the United States Fish

2-12     and Wildlife Service (50 CFR Section 17.22) and may require

2-13     information on the presence of threatened or endangered species

2-14     from permit applicants wishing to initiate a project in a defined

2-15     suitable habitat;]

2-16                 [(2)  enforce a regional habitat conservation plan that

2-17     has been formally approved for a given species or multiple species

2-18     by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, provided that a

2-19     city may not enforce outside its corporate limits any ordinance,

2-20     rule, or regulation designed to protect or manage an endangered

2-21     species unless the requirement imposed under the ordinance, rule,

2-22     or regulation is specifically prescribed by the regional habitat

2-23     conservation plan;]

2-24                 [(3)  allow credits, modifications, and waivers of

2-25     other regulations to offset problems caused by the protection of

2-26     threatened or endangered species; and]

2-27                 [(4)  purchase land or execute leases and easements to

 3-1     protect the habitat of a threatened or endangered species.]

 3-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 3-3           SECTION 3.  This Act does not impair the validity of an

 3-4     easement or lease executed under Section 83.006, Parks and Wildlife

 3-5     Code, before the effective date of this Act.

 3-6           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.