By:  Puente                                                       H.B. No. 305



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the protection of public freshwater areas; providing a 
penalty. 
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Title 5, Parks and Wildlife Code, is amended by 
adding Subtitle I to read as follows:

SUBTITLE I.  PROTECTED FRESHWATER AREAS

CHAPTER 90.  ACCESS TO PROTECTED FRESHWATER AREAS
	Sec. 90.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:                            
		(1)  "Emergency" means a condition or circumstance in 
which a person reasonably believes that an individual has sustained 
serious bodily injury or is in imminent danger of serious bodily 
injury or that property has sustained significant damage or 
destruction or is in imminent danger of significant damage or 
destruction.
		(2)  "Motor vehicle" means any wheeled or tracked 
vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer, or semitrailer propelled or 
drawn by mechanical power and used to transport persons or things.
		(3)  "Protected freshwater area" means that portion of 
the bottom, bed, or bank of any navigable river or stream.  The term 
does not include that portion of a bed, bottom, or bank that lies 
below tidewater limits or is privately owned.
	Sec. 90.002.  OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE IN PROTECTED 
FRESHWATER AREA PROHIBITED.  No person may operate a motor vehicle 
in or on a protected freshwater area.
	Sec. 90.003.  EXEMPTIONS.  (a)  Section 90.002 does not apply 
to:     
		(1)  a state, county, or municipal road right-of-way;                  
		(2)  a private road crossing established before January 
1, 2003; or  
		(3)  operation of a motor vehicle by:                                  
			(A)  a federal, state, or local government 
employee if operation of a motor vehicle is necessary for 
conducting official business;
			(B)  an owner of the adjacent uplands and the 
owner's agents, employees, representatives, and lessees for 
reasonable purposes related to usual and customary agricultural 
purposes;
			(C)  a person if operation of a motor vehicle is 
necessary to and is authorized by a mineral lease or crossing 
easement granted by the General Land Office under the Natural 
Resources Code;
			(D)  a person if operation of a motor vehicle is 
necessary to an activity authorized by Chapter 86; or
			(E)  a person in response to an emergency.                            
	(b)  A person exempt under this section who operates a motor 
vehicle in or on a protected freshwater area shall do so in a manner 
that avoids, to the extent reasonably possible, harming or 
disturbing vegetation, wildlife, or wildlife habitat whitin the 
protected freshwater area.  A person exempt under this section who 
is crossing a protected freshwater area shall cross by the most 
direct feasible route.
	Sec. 90.004.  LANDOWNER RIGHTS.  (a)  A prescriptive 
easement over private property cannot be created by recreational 
use of a protected freshwater area, including by portage over or 
around barriers, scouting of obstructions, or crossing of private 
property to or from a protected freshwater area.
	(b)  Nothing in this section shall limit the right of a 
person to navigate in, on, or around a protected freshwater area.
	Sec. 90.005.  PUBLIC ACCESS.  (a)  Except as otherwise 
allowed by law, no person may restrict, obstruct, intefere with, or 
limit public recreational use of a protected freshwater area.
	(b)  This section does not allow the public to use private 
property to gain access to a protected freshwater area without 
permission of the landowner.
	Sec. 90.006.  ENFORCEMENT.  All peace officers of this state 
shall enforce the provisions of this Act.
	Sec. 90.007.  PENALTY.  (a)  A person commits an offense if 
the person violates Section 90.002 or 90.005.
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), an offense under 
Subsection (a) is a Class C misdemeanor.
	(c)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this 
section that the defendant was previously convicted two or more 
times under Section 90.002 or 90.005, or Sections 90.002 and 
90.005, on conviction the defendant shall be punished for a Class B 
misdemeanor.
	(d)  Each day of a violation under this section is a separate 
offense.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.