BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1722

By: Tepper

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Various items of property may be located on private land that can only be reasonably accessed by a highway right-of-way, such as utility infrastructure, farm infrastructure, or commercial signage. The bill author has informed the committee that the Texas Department of Transportation has increasingly assumed authority over roadways that it did not previously control and applied rules on these roadways which can include banning service from the right-of-way, resulting in some owners having to remove their property or install expensive driveway aprons because of lack of accessibility. C.S.H.B. 1722 addresses this issue by prohibiting TxDOT from restricting a person's access to certain property the person owns or leases that is adjacent to a highway right-of-way.

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.

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.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1722 amends the Transportation Code to prohibit the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) from prohibiting or otherwise restricting a person from accessing  property the person owns or leases that is adjacent to a highway right-of-way, could be accessed legally from the roadway before TxDOT assumed authority over the right-of-way, and was acquired or constructed before TxDOT assumed authority over the right-of-way. The bill expressly does not prohibit TxDOT or the Texas Transportation Commission from acquiring a person's interest in such property through purchase, condemnation, or other means as authorized by other law.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1722 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

While both the substitute and the introduced prohibit TxDOT from restricting a person's access to certain property the person owns or leases, the requisite attributes of the applicable property differ in the following ways:

· whereas the introduced specified that such property is private property, the substitute omits this specification;

· whereas the introduced included the criteria that the property is located within a highway right-of-way TxDOT acquires and can only be accessed through the right-of-way, the substitute includes the criteria that the property is adjacent to a highway right-of-way and could be accessed legally from the roadway before TxDOT assumed authority over the right-of-way; and

· whereas the introduced included the criteria that the property was constructed before TxDOT assumed authority over the right-of-way, the substitute includes the criteria that the property was acquired or constructed before TxDOT did so.