By: Krusee H.B. No. 2052
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of regional habitat conservation
plans by political subdivisions of the State.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 83.013(d), Parks & Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(d) A plan participant may accept [apply for] a federal
permit in conjunction with a regional habitat conservation plan
only if the qualified voters of a plan participant have authorized
the issuance of bonds or other debt financing in an amount equal to
the estimated cost of acquiring all land for habitat preserves
within the time required by this subchapter or the plan participant
has demonstrated that adequate sources of funding will exist to
acquire all land for habitat preserves within the time required by
this subchapter.
SECTION 2. Section 83.015, Parks & Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 83.015. Biological Review; Criteria. (a) A regional
habitat conservation plan, including any mitigation fee, may
[shall] be based on the amount of harm to, and, after notice and
public hearing by the plan participant, any recovery criteria
applicable to, each endangered species to be protected under the
regional habitat conservation plan.
(b) The size of proposed habitat preserves may [shall] be
based [solely] on the amount of harm to, and, after notice and
public hearing by the plan participant, any recovery criteria
applicable to, the endangered species to be protected in the
regional habitat conservation plan.
SECTION 3. Section 83.017(c), Parks & Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Not later than the 60th day after the plan participant's
initial identification of the proposed habitat preserve system for
the federal permit, the plan participants shall notify in writing
each owner of land identified by the plan participants as habitat
preserve or potential habitat preserve. The plan participants
shall use the county tax rolls to identify the owners of land
identified as habitat preserve or potential habitat preserve. The
written notice must include at least the following information:
(1) the tax identification and parcel numbers;
(2) the owner's name and address;
(3) an explanation of the designation or possible
designation of the tract as habitat preserve or potential habitat
preserve under the regional habitat conservation plan;
(4) identification of the citizens advisory committee
members, including telephone numbers, addresses, and the group that
each committee member represents;
(5) identification of employees or agents of plan
participants who can provide information about the regional habitat
conservation plan;
(6) the date of the next citizens advisory committee
meeting or plan participant meeting regarding the regional habitat
conservation plan; and
(7) a description of the status of the regional
habitat conservation plan.
SECTION 4. Section 83.018, Parks & Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 83.018. Preserve Acquisition. (a) The designation of
a tract of land as habitat preserve or potential habitat preserve or
the presence of endangered species or endangered species habitat
may not be considered in determining the fair market value of the
property for acquisition as a habitat preserve.
(b) A change to plan participant rules and regulations,
including land development standards, that occurs after the
earliest date that the biological advisory team, citizens advisory
committee, or plan participant initially identifies a tract of land
as habitat preserve or potential habitat preserve may not be
considered in determining the fair market value of the land for
acquisition as a habitat preserve.
(c) The plan participants shall make offers based on fair
market value to landowners for the acquisition of fee simple or
other interest in land designated in the regional habitat
conservation plan as habitat preserve, except as otherwise provided
in subsection (d), not later than 4 years after the issuance of the
federal permit or 6 [3] years after the initial application for the
federal permit, whichever is later [earlier]. Acquisition of
habitat preserves designated in the regional habitat conservation
plan as habitat preserve must be completed not later than the 5th
[4th] anniversary of the date on which the federal permit was
issued, except as otherwise provided in subsection (d). A plan
participant subject to this subsection who does not meet an
applicable deadline shall file an application to amend the federal
permit to remove the nonacquired habitat preserve land from the
regional habitat conservation plan as a habitat preserve not later
than the 60th day after the expiration of the applicable deadline
[fourth anniversary of the date on which the federal permit was
issued].
(d) With respect to land that is not designated in a
regional habitat conservation plan as habitat preserve at the time
of issuance of the federal permit, but that is designated pursuant
to a regional habitat conservation plan as habitat preserve after
issuance of the federal permit, plan participants shall make offers
based on fair market value to landowners for the acquisition of fee
simple or other interest in land with respect to the tract of land
proposed as habitat preserve not later than 4 years after the tract
is identified or designated by the plan participant as proposed
habitat preserve. Acquisition of habitat preserves for plan
participants subject to this subsection must be completed not later
than the 5th anniversary of the date on which the tract is
identified or designated by the plan participant as proposed
habitat preserve.
SECTION 5. Section 83.020, Parks & Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 83.020. Grievance With Development of Regional Habitat
Conservation Plan. (a) An individual appointed to a citizens
advisory committee under Section 83.016(b) may file a grievance
with the commission regarding the development a regional habitat
conservation plan under this subchapter if the individual believes
that the plan is being developed in violation of this subchapter.
The individual filing the grievance must have been a member of the
citizens advisory committee for the plan named in the grievance.
(b) A grievance must be filed under this section not later
than the 60th day after the date the plan is approved by the plan
participants. The grievance must cite each provision of this
subchapter alleged to have been violated during development of the
plan and must describe each act alleged to have violated this
subchapter.
(c) The commission shall review a grievance filed under this
section to determine whether the plan is being developed in
compliance with this subchapter. If after reviewing the grievance
the commission finds that the grievance has no merit, the
commission may dismiss the grievance. If the commission finds that
the grievance does have merit, the commission must hold a public
hearing in accordance with Chapter 551, Government Code. The
commission shall take testimony from each plan participant and from
the individual filing the grievance. On conclusion of testimony,
the commission shall vote on whether to approve or dismiss the
grievance or to schedule a public hearing not later than the 30th
day after the conclusion of the initial public hearing and to vote
after the conclusion of that hearing whether to approve or dismiss
the grievance.
(d) If the commission approves the grievance, the
commission shall instruct the plan participant or participants to
amend the plan so that it will comply with this subchapter. [The
plan participant may not submit an application for a federal permit
until the commission is satisfied that its instructions to amend
the plan to comply with this subchapter have been carried out.
[(e) A plan participant in a plan that is the subject of a
grievance filed with the commission may not submit an application
for a federal permit before the commission:
[(1) has dismissed the grievance; or
[(2) if the commission approves the grievance, has
determined that the commission's recommended amendments to the plan
have been made.]
(e) [(f)] If an individual files a grievance under this
section, that individual may not file a subsequent grievance.
SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
passage, and it is so enacted.
SECTION 7. If this Act does not receive the necessary vote
that is required for immediate effect pursuant to Section 39,
Article III, Texas Constitution, then this Act shall take effect on
September 1, 2005.