SB 896 is amended by adding a new Section 3 to read as
follows and renumbering all following sections accordingly:
SECTION 3. Subtitle C, Title 6, Transportation Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 258 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 258. ACQUISITION OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN ROAD BY
ADOPTION OF COUNTY ROAD MAP
Sec. 258.001. ACQUISITION OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN ROAD.
Notwithstanding Chapter 281, a county may acquire a public interest
in a road as provided by this chapter.
Sec. 258.002. ADOPTION OF COUNTY ROAD MAP. (a) The
commissioners court of a county may propose a county road map that
includes each road in which the county claims a public interest:
(1) under Chapter 281 or other law; or
(2) as a result of having continuously maintained the
road with public funds beginning before September 1, 1981.
(b) A commissioners court that proposes a county road map
under this section shall hold a public meeting at which a person
asserting a private right, title, or interest in a road in which
the county has claimed a public interest may appear before the
commissioners court to protest the county's claim. A person
asserting a private right, title, or interest in a road may also
file a written protest with the county judge at any time before the
public meeting. The commissioners court shall appoint a jury of
view consisting of five property owners who have no interest in the
outcome of the protest to determine, by a majority vote after a
public hearing and an examination of the county's road maintenance
records and other information, the validity of the county's claim
of public interest in the road. A county has a valid claim in a
road if it provides written records or other information
documenting the county's continuous maintenance of the road
beginning before September 1, 1981. The determination of the jury
of view is binding on the commissioners court, and the
commissioners court shall revise the proposed county road map
accordingly.
(c) The commissioners court shall publish at least once a
week in a newspaper of general circulation in the county for at
least four consecutive weeks preceding the date of the public
meeting a notice:
(1) advising the public that the commissioners court
has proposed a county road map including each road in which the
county claims a public interest;
(2) identifying a location at the courthouse at which
the proposed map will be available to the public during regular
business hours; and
(3) stating the date and location of the public
meeting.
(d) The commissioners court shall display the proposed map
at the location and during the time described in the notice from
the date on which notice is first published through the date on
which the commissioners court formally adopts the proposed map.
The map must be legible and not less than one inch equals 2,000
feet in scale.
(e) The commissioners court may formally adopt the proposed
map, as revised after public comment and a determination by the
jury of view, only at a public meeting held before the 90th day
following the date of the initial public meeting required by
Subsection (b).
(f) If a person asserting a private right, title, or
interest in a road that the county has included in the proposed map
protests in writing or in person as provided by Subsection (b)
before the conclusion of the public hearing, the county may not
take possession of the road, but after the conclusion of the
hearing the county may bring suit against the person for adverse
possession of the right, title, or interest in the road.
(g) The county clerk shall keep a county road map adopted
under this section in a place accessible to the public.
(h) The failure to include on a county road map adopted
under this section a road in which the county has previously
acquired a public interest by purchase, condemnation, dedication,
or a court's final judgment of adverse possession does not affect
the status of the omitted road.
(i) In this section, "continuous maintenance" means grading
or other routine road maintenance beginning before September 1,
1981, and continuing until the date of protest.
Sec. 258.003. CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. Except as provided by
Section 258.004, a county road map adopted under Section 258.002 is
conclusive evidence of:
(1) the public's right of access over a road included
on the map; and
(2) the county's authority to spend public money to
maintain a road included on the map.
Sec. 258.004. CONTEST. (a) A person asserting a private
right, title, or interest in a road in which a public interest is
asserted under this chapter may contest the inclusion of the road
in the county road map by filing a suit in a district court in the
county in which the road is located not later than the second
anniversary of the date on which the county road map including the
road was adopted.
(b) The county has the burden of proving that the county has
continuously maintained, as that term is defined by Section
258.002, the road in question.
Sec. 258.005. TRANSFER OF INTEREST. (a) The commissioners
court shall include a notice of its intention to consider adoption
of the county road map with the ad valorem tax statements for the
year before the adoption of a county road map under Section
258.002. If a property owner tenders a warranty deed to the county
for property included in the right-of-way of a county road, the
commissioners court shall accept and file the warranty deed.
(b) The commissioners court shall include a notice of the
adoption of the county road map with the ad valorem tax statements
for the year after the year in which the county adopts a map under
Section 258.002. The notice must include a list of all roads in
which the county has claimed a public interest by adoption of the
map, the date of the adoption, and the date on which the statute of
limitations will bar a landowner from filing a suit in district
court to dispute the county's claim.
Sec. 258.006. TAX ABATEMENT; REVERSION OF INTEREST. (a) A
private right, title, or interest, other than a mineral interest,
held by a person in land underlying a road in which the county has
acquired a public interest under this chapter is exempt from ad
valorem taxation by any taxing authority.
(b) A right, title, or interest described in Subsection (a)
reverts completely to the person who held the right, title, or
interest at the time the county acquired the public interest in the
land if the county ceases to maintain the road, and the person is
liable for all ad valorem taxes levied on that right, title, or
interest on or after the reversion.
(c) To levy and collect an ad valorem tax on a right, title,
or interest described in Subsection (a) that has reverted to the
landowner under Subsection (b), the taxing authority must obtain
from the county an order stating that the county has ceased to
maintain the road. The owner of the right, title, or interest will
be liable for any ad valorem tax levied on the right, title, or
interest on or after the date of the county's order.