BILL ANALYSIS
By: Bonnen
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Ports are a huge engine of economic growth. Texas ports handle 317 million metric tons of cargo annually, about 17% of the total U.S. port tonnage. Ports employ over one million people and generate over $30 billion in personal income for Texans. They bring in almost $5 billion in state and local tax revenue. For ports in Texas to be able to continue to provide these benefits and plan for the future they must have stable and fixed boundaries.
The purpose of C.S.H.B. 1311 is to require smaller municipalities that have annexed port land to disannex that land and return it to the port.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Requires a municipality with a population of less than 30,000 that borders the Gulf of Mexico, and that has annexed land owned by a navigation district without the consent of the district, to disannex that land by January 1, 2008, unless the district notifies the municipality in writing that the district elects that the land not be disannexed. This provision expires January 1, 2010.
SECTION 2. Effective Date.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
SECTION 1. The provisions of both H.B. 1311 and C.S.H.B. 1311 are the same, except that H.B. 1311 is applicable to a municipality with a population of less than 50,000, while C.S.H.B. 1311 applies to a municipality with a population of less than 30,000 that border the Gulf of Mexico.
SECTION 2. No change between H.B. 1311 and C.S.H.B. 1311.