| TO: | Honorable Kip Averitt, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1135 by Hegar (Relating to the authority of the General Land Office to undertake coastal erosion studies and projects in conjunction with qualified project partners.), As Introduced |
The bill would add to the types of studies and projects the General Land Office's (GLO) coastal erosion program can undertake to include the removal and relocation of structures from public beaches, including the purchase of property located on a public beach; and the acquisition by eminent domain of property necessary for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance, widening, or extension of an erosion response project. In addition, the bill would allow the Land Commissioner to conduct at least one erosion response project without requiring matching funds from a project partner if the total cost of such projects funded with a matching funds requirement does not exceed one-half of the amount of funds appropriated to the GLO for coastal erosion planning and response. The bill would also allow the Land Commissioner to set the percentage of required matching funds for project partners for the purchase of property on the public beach and the acquisition of property by eminent domain for an erosion response project.
This estimate assumes that the additional authority provided in the bill would only be used when the Land Commissioner would determine that a project already eligible for funding by the GLO would benefit from the additional flexibility provided by the bill and that any activity resulting from the bill would not come at the expense of another project for which the GLO would require funding. Therefore, the bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact to the GLO.
| Source Agencies: | 305 General Land Office and Veterans' Land Board
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, TL, SD, DB
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