By: Lindsay S.B. No. 1391
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to establishing and maintaining a county road.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,
1-4 is amended by adding Section 251.059 to read as follows:
1-5 Sec. 251.059. MAINTAINING ESTABLISHED COUNTY ROADS.
1-6 (a) When the commissioners court of a county has established a
1-7 county road and (i) the laying out of the road has been established
1-8 by a jury of view, (ii) the county road has been in continuous use
1-9 for more than 30 years, and (iii) public funds have been expended
1-10 for the upkeep and maintenance of the road for at least 10 of the
1-11 last 20 years, the commissioners court of a county may declare that
1-12 the road shall continue to be used as a public road.
1-13 (b) When the commissioners court of a county determines
1-14 after declaring such road a public road that it is in more than one
1-15 county, the commissioners courts of the counties in which the road
1-16 is located may allocate by mutual agreement the costs of
1-17 maintenance of the road upon a finding by the commissioners courts
1-18 of the counties that the continued maintenance of the road as a
1-19 public road would be of benefit to the counties.
1-20 (c) It is hereby found by the legislature that all orders
1-21 enacted by the commissioners court of a county in establishing such
1-22 county roads and orders authorizing the expenditure of public funds
1-23 for the construction and maintenance of public roads were enacted
2-1 for a public purpose and all such orders are validated in all
2-2 respects.
2-3 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-9 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-10 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
2-11 S.B. No. 1391 is amended by adding a new Section 1 as follows
2-12 and renumbering all following Sections appropriately.
2-13 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 251.005, Transportation
2-14 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-15 (a) A county commissioner serving as a road supervisor shall
2-16 make a sworn annual report during the ninth month of the fiscal
2-17 year on a form approved by [to each regular term of] the
2-18 commissioners court showing:
2-19 (1) the condition of each road or part of a road and
2-20 of each culvert and bridge in the commissioner's precinct;
2-21 (2) the amount of money reasonably necessary for
2-22 maintenance of [held by overseers available to be spent on] the
2-23 roads in the precinct during the following fiscal year;
2-24 (3) the number of traffic control devices [mileposts
2-25 and fingerboards] in the precinct defaced or torn down;
3-1 (4) any new road that should be opened in the
3-2 precinct; and
3-3 (5) any bridges, culverts, or other improvements
3-4 necessary to place the roads in the precinct in good condition, and
3-5 the probable cost of the improvements[; and]
3-6 [(6) the name of each overseer who has failed to work
3-7 on the roads or who in any way neglected to perform the overseer's
3-8 duties].
3-9 Alexander