BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1709 |
By: Harless |
County Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note that a county commissioners court has general authority to close, abandon, and vacate a public road and may do so either at the request of a person or on its own motion. The parties further note that when such actions are undertaken at a person's request, the requestor generally has not borne any of the associated costs of those actions, which the county, and thereby taxpayers, must then cover. A concern has also been raised about the sufficiency of information in the title relating to certain rights-of-way and easements. C.S.H.B. 1709 seeks to address these issues.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1709 amends the Transportation Code to require a county order closing, abandoning, and vacating a public road or portion of a public road, if a public utility or common carrier that has the right of eminent domain is using the property being conveyed for a right-of-way or easement purpose, to state that the title to the property is subject to the right-of-way or easement and the continued use by the public utility or common carrier of utility infrastructure, which includes any facility owned by an electric or gas utility, in existence on the date the order is signed by the county judge. The bill requires the commissioners court, not later than the 30th day before the date such an order is signed, to notify such a public utility or common carrier of the proposal to close, abandon, and vacate the public road or portion of the public road.
C.S.H.B. 1709 authorizes a commissioners court that closes, abandons, and vacates a public road or a portion of a public road at the request of an owner of property that abuts the portion of that road to require the owner to pay all reasonable administrative costs incurred for processing the request and recording the order to close, abandon, and vacate the road in the county deed records and to reimburse the county for the market value of any property interest conveyed to the owner. The bill authorizes a county by order of the commissioners court to adopt standard fees required for processing such a request and recording the order.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1709 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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