By Lindsay                                            S.B. No. 1500
         76R8060 SMH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a prohibition on the use for wetland mitigation
 1-3     purposes of property acquired by certain municipalities for airport
 1-4     purposes.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 22, Transportation Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 22.027 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 22.027.  PROHIBITION ON USE OF AIRPORT FOR WETLAND
 1-9     MITIGATION.  (a)  A municipality with a population of 1.5 million
1-10     or more that acquires property for use as an airport may not use
1-11     the property to provide a mitigation credit under Section 404,
1-12     Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1344), and
1-13     the guidelines developed by the Secretary of the Army under that
1-14     section in order to offset an adverse impact to wetlands caused by
1-15     the discharge of dredged or fill material into the navigable waters
1-16     at another disposal site.
1-17           (b)  This section expires September 1, 2005.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 22.027, Transportation Code, as added by
1-19     this Act, applies to property acquired by a municipality before,
1-20     on, or after the effective date of this Act.
1-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-3     passage, and it is so enacted.