1-1     By:  Lindsay                                          S.B. No. 1601

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;

 1-4     April 10, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 10, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1601                 By:  Lindsay

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the authority of certain coastal counties to regulate

1-11     development in flood-prone areas.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 240.901, Local Government Code, is

1-14     amended by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (f) and

1-15     (g) to read as follows:

1-16           (c)  The commissioners court may adopt and enforce rules that

1-17     regulate the management and use of land, structures, and other

1-18     development in a flood-prone area of the county in order to reduce

1-19     the extent of damage caused by flooding.  The matters to which the

1-20     rules may apply include:

1-21                 (1)  the floodproofing of structures located or to be

1-22     constructed in the area;

1-23                 (2)  the minimum elevation of a structure permitted to

1-24     be constructed or improved in the area;

1-25                 (3)  specifications for drainage; [and]

1-26                 (4)  the prohibition of the connection of land with

1-27     water, sewer, electricity, gas, or other utility service, if a

1-28     structure or other development on the land is not in compliance

1-29     with a rule adopted by the commissioners court; and

1-30                 (5)  any other action feasible to minimize flooding and

1-31     rising water damage.

1-32           (f)  If the commissioners court prohibits the connection of

1-33     land with water, sewer, electricity, gas, or other utility service

1-34     under Subsection (c)(4), a person may not provide utility services

1-35     that connect the land with utility services without written

1-36     certification from the county that the property complies with rules

1-37     adopted under this section.

1-38           (g)  A commissioners court may authorize procedures for

1-39     filing a notice in the real property records of the county in which

1-40     a property is located that identifies any condition on the property

1-41     that the county determines violates the rules adopted under this

1-42     section or a permit issued under this section.  The notice is not a

1-43     final legal determination and is meant only to provide notice of

1-44     the county's determination that a violation of the rules or a

1-45     permit exists on the property.

1-46           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-47           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-48     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-49     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-50     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-51     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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