By: Alvarado  S.B. No. 818
         (In the Senate - Filed February 9, 2023; March 1, 2023, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Transportation;
  March 22, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; March 22, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the disposition of real property interests by
  navigation districts and port authorities.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 60.038, Water Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 60.038.  DISPOSITION [SALE OR LEASE] OF INTERESTS IN
  REAL PROPERTY [LAND].
         SECTION 2.  Section 60.038, Water Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (e),
  (f), and (g) to read as follows:
         (a)  A district may sell, exchange, or lease real property or
  any interest in real property [all or any part of land] owned by it,
  whether the real property was [land is] acquired by gift or
  purchase, in settlement of any litigation, controversy, or claim in
  behalf of the district, or in any other manner, except that lands or
  flats heretofore purchased from the State of Texas under former
  Article 8225, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925, or granted by
  the State of Texas in any general or special act, may be sold only to
  the State of Texas or exchanged with the State of Texas for other
  lands or exchanged for adjacent littoral land as authorized by
  Section 61.117 [of this code]. The district may impose
  restrictions on the development, use, and transfer of any real
  property or interest in real property in connection with its sale or
  exchange under this section.
         (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), before [Before] a
  district may sell or exchange real property [land], the commission
  shall determine by resolution that the real property [land] is no
  longer needed for use by the district in connection with the
  development of a navigation project.
         (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), (f), or (g), a
  sale [Sale] or exchange [lease] of real property [land] shall be
  made as provided by Sections 60.040, 60.041, and 60.042
  [60.039-60.042 of this code].
         (e)  A district may donate, exchange, convey, sell, or lease
  land, improvements, easements, or any other interests in real
  property to an electric utility, as that term is defined by Section
  31.002, Utilities Code, or a telecommunications utility, as that
  term is defined by Section 51.002, Utilities Code, to promote a
  public purpose related to the development of the district. The
  district shall determine the terms and conditions of the
  transaction so as to:
               (1)  achieve the public purpose; and
               (2)  be consistent with the requirements of Title 2,
  Utilities Code.
         (f)  A district may donate, exchange, convey, sell, or lease
  a real property interest under Subsection (e) for less than its fair
  market value and without complying with the notice and bidding
  requirements of Sections 60.040, 60.041, and 60.042.
         (g)  Narrow strips of real property resulting from boundary
  or surveying conflicts or similar causes, or from insubstantial
  encroachments by abutting real property owners, or real property of
  larger configuration that has been subject to encroachments by
  abutting real property owners for more than 25 years may be
  abandoned, released, exchanged, or transferred to such abutting
  owners on terms and conditions considered appropriate or
  advantageous to the district. A district may convey real property
  under this subsection for less than its fair market value and
  without complying with the notice and bidding requirements of
  Sections 60.040, 60.041, and 60.042.
         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, 2023.
 
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