By: Pitts (Senate Sponsor - Nichols) H.B. No. 341

(In the Senate - Received from the House April 22, 2013; April 25, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Transportation; May 9, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 9, 2013, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the exclusion of certain mineral interests from the property interests that may be condemned by a regional tollway authority.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 366.165, Transportation Code, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d) An authority shall, in a statement or petition in condemnation, exclude from the interest to be condemned all the oil, gas, and sulphur that can be removed from beneath the real property. This exclusion shall be made without providing the owner of the oil, gas, or sulphur any right of ingress or egress to or from the surface of the land to explore, develop, drill, or mine the real property.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a condemnation in which a condemnation petition is filed on or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.

* * * * *