By:  Armbrister                                                   S.B. No. 517
	(In the Senate - Filed February 15, 2005; February 28, 2005, 
read first time and referred to Subcommittee on Agriculture and 
Coastal Resources; March 30, 2005, reported favorably to Committee 
on Natural Resources; April 11, 2005, reported favorably from 
Committee on Natural Resources by the following vote:  Yeas 10, 
Nays 0; April 11, 2005, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to studies or projects concerning coastal erosion that may 
be undertaken by the General Land Office in conjunction with 
qualified project partners.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 33.603, Natural Resources Code, is 
amended by amending Subsections (b) and (d) and adding Subsection 
(g) to read as follows:
	(b)  The studies and projects shall address:                                   
		(1)  assessment of the feasibility, cost, and financing 
of different methods of avoiding, slowing, or remedying coastal 
erosion;
		(2)  beneficial placement of dredged material where 
appropriate to replenish eroded public beach, bay shore, marsh, and 
dune areas;
		(3)  public beach, bay shore, and marsh nourishment or 
restoration projects using sediments other than material from 
navigational or other dredging projects;
		(4)  guidelines on grain size and toxicity level;                             
		(5)  the economic, natural resource, and other benefits 
of coastal erosion projects;
		(6)  the protection, revegetation, and restoration of 
dunes;                
		(7)  the planting of vegetation as a means of 
inhibiting bay shore erosion and projects developing and 
cultivating disease-resistant vegetation adapted to local 
conditions;
		(8)  the construction or retrofitting of dams, jetties, 
groins, and other impoundment structures, provided that the 
structures include [with] sediment bypassing systems;
		(9)  estimating the quantity and quality of sediment 
trapped by reservoirs, navigation channels, and placement areas and 
identification of other sediment sources;
		(10)  the use of hard or soft structures on bay 
shorelines as a method[, giving preference to "soft" methods] of 
avoiding, slowing, or remedying erosion [in lieu of erecting hard 
or rigid shorefront structures];
		(11)  storm damage mitigation, post-storm damage 
assessment, and debris removal from public beaches; [and]
		(12)  structural shoreline protection projects that 
use innovative technologies designed or engineered to minimize 
beach scour; and
		(13)  other studies or projects the commissioner 
considers necessary or appropriate to implement this subchapter.
	(d)  Except as provided by Subsections (b)(8) and (12), this
[This] chapter does not authorize the construction or funding of a 
hard structure on or landward of a public beach.
	(g)  Notwithstanding Subsection (d), each biennium the 
commissioner may undertake or provide funding for one or more 
erosion response demonstration projects if the state's portion of 
the shared project cost does not exceed one-tenth of the total 
amount appropriated to the land office for coastal erosion planning 
and response.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.                           



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