H.B. No. 2623
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the authority of certain counties and the General Land
  Office to temporarily close a beach or beach access point.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 61.001, Natural Resources Code, is
  amended by adding Subdivision (4-a) to read as follows:
               (4-a) "Launch" and "space flight activities" have the
  meanings assigned by Section 100A.001, Civil Practice and Remedies
  Code.
         SECTION 2.  Section 61.011(d), Natural Resources Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (d)  The commissioner shall promulgate rules, consistent
  with the policies established in this section, on the following
  matters only:
               (1)  acquisition by local governments or other
  appropriate entities or public dedication of access ways sufficient
  to provide adequate public ingress and egress to and from the beach
  within the area described in Subdivision (6);
               (2)  protection of the public easement from erosion or
  reduction caused by development or other activities on adjacent
  land and beach cleanup and maintenance;
               (3)  local government prohibitions of vehicular
  traffic on public beaches, provision of off-beach parking, the use
  on a public beach of a golf cart, as defined by Section 502.001,
  Transportation Code, for the transportation of a person with a
  physical disability, and other minimum measures needed to mitigate
  for any adverse effect on public access and dune areas;
               (4)  imposition of beach access, user, or parking fees
  and reasonable exercises of the police power by local governments
  with respect to public beaches;
               (5)  contents and certification of beach access and use
  plans and standards for local government review of construction on
  land adjacent to and landward of public beaches, including
  procedures for expedited review of beach access and use plans under
  Section 61.015;
               (6)  construction on land adjacent to and landward of
  public beaches and lying in the area either up to the first public
  road generally parallel to the beach or to any closer public road
  not parallel to the beach, or to within 1,000 feet of mean high
  tide, whichever is greater, that affects or may affect public
  access to and use of public beaches;
               (7)  the temporary suspension under Section 61.0185 of
  enforcement of the prohibition against encroachments on and
  interferences with the public beach easement and the ability of a
  property owner to make repairs to a house while a suspension is in
  effect;
               (8)  the determination of the line of vegetation or
  natural line of vegetation;
               (9)  the factors to be considered in determining
  whether a structure, improvement, obstruction, barrier, or hazard
  on the public beach:
                     (A)  constitutes an imminent hazard to safety,
  health, or public welfare; or
                     (B)  substantially interferes with the free and
  unrestricted right of the public to enter or leave the public beach
  or traverse any part of the public beach; [and]
               (10)  the procedures for determining whether a
  structure is not insurable property for purposes of Section
  2210.004, Insurance Code, because of the factors listed in
  Subsection (h) of that section; and
               (11)  the closure of beaches for space flight
  activities.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter D, Chapter 61, Natural Resources
  Code, is amended by adding Section 61.132 to read as follows:
         Sec. 61.132.  CLOSING OF BEACHES FOR SPACE FLIGHT
  ACTIVITIES.  (a)  This section applies only to a county bordering on
  the Gulf of Mexico or its tidewater limits that contains a launch
  site the construction and operation of which have been approved in a
  record of decision issued by the Federal Aviation Administration
  following the preparation of an environmental impact statement by
  that administration.
         (b)  A person planning to conduct a launch in a county to
  which this section applies must submit to the commissioners court
  proposed primary and backup launch dates for the launch.
         (c)  To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the
  commissioners court by order may temporarily close a beach in
  reasonable proximity to the launch site or access points to the
  beach in the county on a primary or backup launch date, subject to
  Subsection (d).
         (d)  The commissioners court may not close a beach or access
  points to the beach on a primary launch date consisting of any of
  the following days without the approval of the land office:
               (1)  the Saturday or Sunday preceding Memorial Day;
               (2)  Memorial Day;
               (3)  July 4;
               (4)  Labor Day; or
               (5)  a Saturday or Sunday that is after Memorial Day but
  before Labor Day.
         (e)  The commissioners court must comply with the county's
  beach access and use plan adopted and certified under Section
  61.015 and dune protection plan adopted and certified under Chapter
  63 when closing a beach or access point under this section.
         (f)  The land office may:
               (1)  approve or deny a beach or access point closure
  request under Subsection (d);
               (2)  enter into a memorandum of agreement with the
  commissioners court of a county to which this section applies to
  govern beach and access point closures made under this section; and
               (3)  adopt rules to govern beach and access point
  closures made under this section.
         SECTION 4.  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.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2623 was passed by the House on April
  25, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 135, Nays 0, 1 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2623 was passed by the Senate on May
  9, 2013, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor