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.
1-52 * * * * *