AN ACT
1-1 relating to the authority of certain coastal counties to regulate
1-2 development in flood-prone areas.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 240.901, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (f) and
1-6 (g) to read as follows:
1-7 (c) The commissioners court may adopt and enforce rules that
1-8 regulate the management and use of land, structures, and other
1-9 development in a flood-prone area of the county in order to reduce
1-10 the extent of damage caused by flooding. The matters to which the
1-11 rules may apply include:
1-12 (1) the floodproofing of structures located or to be
1-13 constructed in the area;
1-14 (2) the minimum elevation of a structure permitted to
1-15 be constructed or improved in the area;
1-16 (3) specifications for drainage; [and]
1-17 (4) the prohibition of the connection of land with
1-18 water, sewer, electricity, and gas utility service, if a structure
1-19 or other development on the land is not in compliance with a rule
1-20 adopted by the commissioners court; and
1-21 (5) any other action feasible to minimize flooding and
1-22 rising water damage.
1-23 (f) If the commissioners court prohibits the connection of
2-1 land with water, sewer, electricity, and gas utility service under
2-2 Subsection (c)(4), a person may not provide utility services that
2-3 connect the land with utility services without written
2-4 certification from the county that the property complies with rules
2-5 adopted under this section.
2-6 (g) A commissioners court may authorize procedures for
2-7 filing a notice in the real property records of the county in which
2-8 a property is located that identifies any condition on the property
2-9 that the county determines violates the rules adopted under this
2-10 section or a permit issued under this section. The notice is not a
2-11 final legal determination and is meant only to provide notice of
2-12 the county's determination that a violation of the rules or a
2-13 permit exists on the property. The notice must include a
2-14 description legally sufficient for identification of the property
2-15 and the name of the owner of the property.
2-16 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1601 passed the Senate on
April 24, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 15, 1997, by a
viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1601 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 13, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor