LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                               May 26, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Bill Ratliff, Lieutenant Governor
               Honorable James E. "Pete" Laney, Speaker of the House
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB2684  by Kuempel (relating to the authority of the
               Texas Transportation Commission to acquire certain
               protected property.), Conference Committee Report
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The bill would amend the Transportation Code to prohibit the
Transportation Commission (TTC) from acquiring any property for use as a
disposal site for dredged material from the Laguna Madre before September
1, 2005, if the property was subject to a habitat conservation plan on
October 1, 1977.  The bill would require the section prohibiting the TTC
from acquiring any property in this area to expire on September 1, 2003,
if a federal study prohibiting the Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT) from using open water disposal methods for Laguna Madre dredge
spoils were issued on or before September 1, 2003; and on the date the
federal study would be filed with the TTC by TxDOT if the study were
issued after September 1, 2003.  The bill would also require the House
Committee on Land and Resource Management to conduct an interim study on
placement and use of options for dredged material from the Gulf
Intercoastal Waterway (GIW) and report its findings and recommendations
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Legislature no
later than November 1, 2002.  The section of the bill requiring the
interim study by the Committee would expire November 2, 2002.

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated if the
federal study were issued on or before September 1, 2003, because the
section prohibiting the TTC from acquiring any property along the Laguna
Madre's 80 mile length of the GIW would expire on September 1, 2003, and
it is estimated that the TTC would not be able to acquire land for upland
disposal sites in less than 2 years along the Laguna Madre's 80 mile
length of the GIW due to the required acquisition processes regardless of
the provisions of the bill.  Also, no significant fiscal implication to
the State is anticipated  if a federal study were issued after September
1, 2003, because the section of the bill prohibiting the TTC from
acquiring any property along the Laguna Madre's 80 mile length of the GIW
would expire on the date the federal study is filed with the TTC by
TxDOT.  For the purposes of this analysis it is assumed that TxDOT would
file the federal study immediately with the TTC.

The bill would take effect September 1, 2001.
  
Local Government Impact
  
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
  
  
Source Agencies:   
LBB Staff:         JK, RB, MW