1-1     By:  Brown                                             S.B. No. 872
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 1999; March 8, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     March 31, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 8,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 31, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the lease, transfer, sale, or exchange of Parks and
 1-9     Wildlife Department lands.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 13.006, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 13.006.  LEASE OF [PARK] LANDS.  (a)  The department may
1-14     lease [for park purposes] any land and improvements it holds to a
1-15     [any] city, county, special district, nonprofit organization, or
1-16     [other] political subdivision.  The leased area may not be referred
1-17     to as a state facility [park], and no state funds may be used to
1-18     operate or maintain a property [park] leased under this section.
1-19           (b)  The conditions and duration of the lease agreement are
1-20     determined by the agreement of the department and the lessee
1-21     [governing body of the political subdivision].
1-22           SECTION 2.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 13.008, Parks
1-23     and Wildlife Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-24           (a)  The department may solicit and receive donations of land
1-25     for public [state park] purposes and may refuse donations of land
1-26     not acceptable for public [park] purposes.
1-27           (b)  If title to a site has vested in the department [state
1-28     for park purposes] and if ownership of the site is no longer in the
1-29     best interest of [deemed unsuitable for a state park by] the
1-30     department, the department may transfer the title:
1-31                 (1)  to another state department or institution
1-32     requesting the site;
1-33                 (2)  to the donor of the land if the donor requests the
1-34     return of the site;
1-35                 (3)  to the United States if it has undertaken the
1-36     development of the site for public [park] purposes; [or]
1-37                 (4)  [on a declaration that the site is unsuitable for
1-38     park purposes,] to the grantor if the deed to the department
1-39     contains a reversion clause providing that title reverts to the
1-40     grantor when the site is not used for the [park] purposes for which
1-41     it was acquired; or
1-42                 (5)  to any legally authorized entity if the property
1-43     is to be used for public purposes.
1-44           SECTION 3.  Section 13.009, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
1-45     amended to read as follows:
1-46           Sec. 13.009.  SALE OR EXCHANGE OF LAND.  (a)  The director
1-47     with the approval of the commission may execute a deed exchanging
1-48     real property or an interest in real property either as all or
1-49     partial consideration for other real property or interest in real
1-50     property [to be used by the department for the same purpose as the
1-51     property relinquished].  The director with the approval of the
1-52     commission may execute a deed selling real property or an interest
1-53     in real property under the jurisdiction of the department if
1-54     ownership of the real property is no longer in the best interest of
1-55     the department [suitable for the purpose for which it was
1-56     acquired].
1-57           (b)  The department [state] shall receive a good and
1-58     marketable title to all land exchanged under this section.  [The
1-59     title to land received in the exchange must be approved by the
1-60     attorney general.]
1-61           (c)  All land to be received in the exchange must be
1-62     appraised and if the land to be received is of greater value, as
1-63     determined by an independent and competent appraisal, than the
1-64     state land exchanged, the department may use funds available for
 2-1     land acquisitions as a partial consideration for the exchange.
 2-2           (d)  [All transactions for the exchange of land under this
 2-3     section must have the prior written approval of the governor.]
 2-4           [(e)]  The receipts from the sale of land under this section
 2-5     shall be used for improving or acquiring other real property
 2-6     dedicated to the same purpose for which the land sold was
 2-7     dedicated.
 2-8           (e) [(f)]  Notwithstanding any other law or charter provision
 2-9     to the contrary, the department and a municipality may agree to
2-10     exchange park properties under the control or management of the
2-11     department or municipal government on the following conditions:
2-12                 (1)  the properties to be exchanged shall continue to
2-13     be dedicated park properties and used for park purposes;
2-14                 (2)  no election is required by the municipality to
2-15     authorize the exchange; and
2-16                 (3)  all of the provisions of Subsections (a) through
2-17     (d) [(e)] of this section are complied with by the department.
2-18           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-19           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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