By:  Lindsay                                          S.B. No. 1601

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       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, gas, or other utility service, if a

1-19     structure or other development on the land is not in compliance

1-20     with a rule 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, gas, or other utility service

 2-2     under Subsection (c)(4), a person may not provide utility services

 2-3     that 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.

2-14           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-15           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

2-20                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1

2-21           Amend SECTION 1, S.B. 1601 in Sec. 240.901(c) of the Local

2-22     Government Code on Page 1, Line 19, by inserting the word "and"

2-23     between the word "electricity" and the word "gas" and striking the

2-24     words "or other".

2-25           Amend SECTION 1, S.B. 1601 in Sec. 240.901(f) of the Local

 3-1     Government Code on Page 2, Line 1, by inserting the word "and"

 3-2     between the word "electricity" and the word "gas" and striking the

 3-3     words "or other".

 3-4                                                                 Jackson

 3-5                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 2

 3-6           Amend Senate Bill No. 1601 as follows:

 3-7           On page 2, line 13, insert the following sentence after

 3-8     "property."  "The notice must include a description legally

 3-9     sufficient for identification of the property and the name of the

3-10     owner of the property."

3-11                                                                 Jackson