AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
S.B. 1487 allows for the official abandonment of an unused or underused county road to a cemetery under specific circumstances.
Current statute allows for a county road to be abandoned if an adjacent owner has fenced it for at least 20 years. The exception is for cemeteries.
This bill allows for abandonment of roads to cemeteries that meet the same 20-year criteria, plus the adjoining owner must file an affidavit in the deed records agreeing to provide reasonable access as defined in Section 711.041 (Access to Cemetery), Health and Safety Code, governing access to cemeteries without public ingress and egress.
S.B. 1487 amends current law relating to the abandonment of a county road.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 251.057(b), Transportation Code, as follows:
(b) Provides that this section does not apply to a road to a cemetery, unless a property owner whose property adjoins the road enclosed with a fence under Subsection (a) (relating to providing that a county road is abandoned when its use has become so infrequent that one or more adjoining property owners have enclosed the road with a fence continuously for at least 20 years) files notice with the county clerk of the county in which the road is located that the owner agrees to provide reasonable access to the cemetery in accordance with Section 711.041 (Access to Cemetery), Health and Safety Code, or an access road that is reasonably necessary to reach adjoining real property.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2013.