1-1     By:  Lindsay                                          S.B. No. 1391

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1997; March 19, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; April 17, 1997, reported favorably by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 17, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to establishing and maintaining a county road.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 251, Transportation Code,

1-11     is amended by adding Section 251.059 to read as follows:

1-12           Sec. 251.059.  MAINTAINING ESTABLISHED COUNTY ROADS.

1-13     (a)  When the commissioners court of a county has established a

1-14     county road and (i) the laying out of the road has been established

1-15     by a jury of view, (ii) the county road has been in continuous use

1-16     for more than 30 years, and (iii) public funds have been expended

1-17     for the upkeep and maintenance of the road for at least 10 of the

1-18     last 20 years, the commissioners court of a county may declare that

1-19     the road shall continue to be used as a public road.

1-20           (b)  When the commissioners court of a county determines

1-21     after declaring such road a public road that it is in more than one

1-22     county, the commissioners courts of the counties in which the road

1-23     is located may allocate by mutual agreement the costs of

1-24     maintenance of the road upon a finding by the commissioners courts

1-25     of the counties that the continued maintenance of the road as a

1-26     public road would be of benefit to the counties.

1-27           (c)  It is hereby found by the legislature that all orders

1-28     enacted by the commissioners court of a county in establishing such

1-29     county roads and orders authorizing the expenditure of public funds

1-30     for the construction and maintenance of public roads were enacted

1-31     for a public purpose and all such orders are validated in all

1-32     respects.

1-33           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-34     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-35     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-36     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-37     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-38     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-39     passage, and it is so enacted.

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