AN ACT
1-1 relating to establishing and maintaining county roads.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 251.005, Transportation
1-4 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-5 (a) A county commissioner serving as a road supervisor shall
1-6 make a sworn annual report during the ninth month of the fiscal
1-7 year on a form approved by [to each regular term of] the
1-8 commissioners court showing:
1-9 (1) the condition of each road or part of a road and
1-10 of each culvert and bridge in the commissioner's precinct;
1-11 (2) the amount of money reasonably necessary for
1-12 maintenance of [held by overseers available to be spent on] the
1-13 roads in the precinct during the following fiscal year;
1-14 (3) the number of traffic control devices [mileposts
1-15 and fingerboards] in the precinct defaced or torn down;
1-16 (4) any new road that should be opened in the
1-17 precinct; and
1-18 (5) any bridges, culverts, or other improvements
1-19 necessary to place the roads in the precinct in good condition, and
1-20 the probable cost of the improvements[; and]
1-21 [(6) the name of each overseer who has failed to work
1-22 on the roads or who in any way neglected to perform the overseer's
1-23 duties].
1-24 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,
2-1 is amended by adding Section 251.059 to read as follows:
2-2 Sec. 251.059. MAINTAINING ESTABLISHED COUNTY ROADS.
2-3 (a) When the commissioners court of a county has established a
2-4 county road and (i) the laying out of the road has been established
2-5 by a jury of view, (ii) the county road has been in continuous use
2-6 for more than 30 years, and (iii) public funds have been expended
2-7 for the upkeep and maintenance of the road for at least 10 of the
2-8 last 20 years, the commissioners court of a county may declare that
2-9 the road shall continue to be used as a public road.
2-10 (b) When the commissioners court of a county determines
2-11 after declaring such road a public road that it is in more than one
2-12 county, the commissioners courts of the counties in which the road
2-13 is located may allocate by mutual agreement the costs of
2-14 maintenance of the road upon a finding by the commissioners courts
2-15 of the counties that the continued maintenance of the road as a
2-16 public road would be of benefit to the counties.
2-17 (c) It is hereby found by the legislature that all orders
2-18 enacted by the commissioners court of a county in establishing such
2-19 county roads and orders authorizing the expenditure of public funds
2-20 for the construction and maintenance of public roads were enacted
2-21 for a public purpose and all such orders are validated in all
2-22 respects.
2-23 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-2 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1391 passed the Senate on
April 28, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 18, 1997, by the
following vote: Yeas 28, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1391 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 16, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 141,
Nays 0, two present not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor